CITY FIREFIGHTER A CREDIT TO HIS DEPARTMENT ERICK CLEMENTS SINGLED OUT.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK - A city paramedic who teaches CPR to eighth-graders and helps high school students decide if they have what it takes to be firefighters has been named Burbank's Firefighter of the Year.

Firefighter and paramedic Erick Clements, 32, of Long Beach, who has been with the Burbank Fire Department since October 1997, was honored earlier this week in a City Hall ceremony.

``Any job we need done we feel we can give the responsibility to Erick and get it done and done right,'' said Fire Chief Mike Davis.

Clements heads the CPR training program for Burbank eighth-graders and also is an instructor in the Regional Occupational Program, helping high school students get an idea of what it would be like to be a firefighter. He also teaches disaster preparedness for corporate clients through a company called Life Goes On.

In 2002, Clements and another off-duty paramedic happened upon a traffic collision in Long Beach, where they administered CPR to an elderly woman and helped her husband and another crash victim until Long Beach paramedics arrived. The elderly victim died despite their efforts.

Clements was happy but humble about being recognized for his achievements.

`'It's an honor, but in the same breath it's something that we don't like being put up on a pedestal,'' Clements said, adding that everyone in the Burbank Fire Department is deserving of such an award.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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