Each year, a number of state and local firefighting organizations join together in honoring a Kansas firefighter for heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty. This year, Rob B. Kanaga ’97, a lieutenant with the Wichita Fire Department, is their choice of Firefighter of the Year.
On Nov. 16, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Kansas State Association of Fire Chiefs and the Kansas State Firefighters Association presented Kanaga with the 2015 Tom McGaughey Fire Service Award for his life-saving actions during a multi-story apartment building fire in Wichita on March 15, 2015.
Kanaga was among the first responders at the scene. As his team worked to put out the fire, he got word that an occupant remained inside one of the apartments.
He entered the smoke-filled apartment, located a barely conscious person and evacuated her to safety.
“Everyone who was on scene that day of the fire — there were over 50 people there, and it was a combined effort to facilitate that rescue,” Kanaga reports.
Wichita Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell nominated Kanaga for the fire service award, which is named in memory of McGaughey, a former Wichita fire chief who died in 1968 at a burning car company with other firefighters.
Kanaga, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Wichita State, was also recognized earlier this year for his heroism and bravery that day in March as the Wichita Area Insurance Professionals 2015 Firefighter of the Year.
