Kenai Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Allen Burkett presents Kenai Fire Marshal Jeremy Hamilton with an award at the Kenai Elks Lodge in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Allen Burkett presents Kenai Fire Marshal Jeremy Hamilton with an award at the Kenai Elks Lodge in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Elks honor Kenai Fire Department

Receiving medals were Captain Pete Coots and Fire Marshal Jeremy Hamilton

The Kenai Elks Lodge celebrated the Kenai Fire Department with an appreciation dinner and awarded two members certificates of service and medals of valor on Friday.

After the dinner, which was attended by department staff and their families, Kenai Elks Exalted Ruler Allen Burkett and other members of the lodge read messages thanking the Kenai Fire Department for their efforts and dedication to safety.

Receiving medals were Captain Pete Coots and Fire Marshal Jeremy Hamilton.

Coots, Burkett said, has been at Kenai Fire Department for 17 years, first as a firefighter and then as captain. He was recognized not just for his work at the department but also as a certified instructor for American Red Cross basic life support and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as well as with the Boy Scouts of America and “his local church.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Hamilton was recognized for 15 years at Kenai Fire Department, similarly first as a firefighter then as a fire marshal. Also beyond the department, Hamilton was recognized for his involvement in local sports.

Hamilton “exemplifies what it means to love, serve and protect your community,” Burkett said.

For more information about the Kenai Elks Lodge, find them on Facebook at “Kenai Elks Lodge #2425.”

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Kenai Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Allen Burkett presents Kenai Fire Department’s Pete Coots with an award at the Kenai Elks Lodge in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler Allen Burkett presents Kenai Fire Department’s Pete Coots with an award at the Kenai Elks Lodge in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read