Raleigh-Area Volunteer is NC Firefighter of Year

Aug. 25, 2019
Lauren Deer, a member of the Northern Wake (County) Fire Department, has been selected as North Carolina Firefighter of the Year.

Lauren Deer was nominated, and selected, as North Carolina’s Firefighter of the Year for 2019, during the annual Firefighters’ Association and Association of Fire Chiefs awards banquet on August 24th.

Lauren serves as volunteer with the Northern Wake Fire Department, and was nominated by her fire chief, Tim Pope. While Lauren scores in the top 5% of all categories monitored by the fire department, from responses to training, she also serves as Junior Firefighter program coordinator. Chief Pope stated that Lauren is always quick to volunteer for special projects, but it is her work as their department’s chaplain that he points to as defining Lauren, who she is, the type of firefighter she is, and why he nominated her as the top firefighter in the state.

All year long, in addition to training and emergency responses, Lauren also mentors, counsels, and strengthens firefighters and their families as the department’s chaplain. But it was during the recent passing of one of their officers, Captain Robert Nordman, who lost his battle with cancer last December, where Lauren really rose to the occasion and displayed the true ethos and attributes of the fire service and brotherhood. During the captain’s illness Lauren made herself available and spent hours speaking with, and counseling, local firefighters and their families, while at the same time remaining by Captain Nordman’s side during his final hours.  Chief Pope gives credit for their fire department’s ability to handle the loss of their beloved captain to Lauren, “She was the glue that held us together,” he stated. “She has truly been a blessing to me personally, our department, our members and our community.”

In addition to working with her local firefighters as a chaplain, Lauren also volunteers for the state’s First Responder Peer Support Team, which travels the state and counsels firefighters and their families who have suffered or experienced a crisis or trauma. Lauren, a graduate of Clemson University, is now working on her doctorate’s degree in ministry at Campbell University, and it is here she hopes to combine both her academics and passion - to bring awareness concerning the difficulties firefighters face as they deal with trauma, as well as help them find solutions in doing so. 

Lauren credits many for her achievement, from her parents to her uncle Drew who, as a volunteer fire chief in Maryland, let her respond with him on an emergency call one day, and in doing so, placed the fire service in her blood which still runs stronger than ever. But the person she credits with making the biggest impact on her was the very same person who brought out in her the true meaning of the fire service and brotherhood, the late Captain Robert Nordman.

“Captain Nordman invited me to journey with him through his final days here on this Earth,” Lauren said to a packed room at the Raleigh, NC, Convention Center where she received her award. “I learned so much through his fight. Regardless of how bad he felt after treatment, he was still up at the fire station. While he was physically unable to pull duty, he was there to encourage everyone,” stated Lauren. “For him the trucks could always be shinier, there was more training that needed to be done, and he was always stepping up to get things done. His passion for the fire service was infectious. Now, may we also find that renewed passion we have for the fire service regardless of how tired we may be or how rough life gets. May we take pride in all that we do as firefighters, serving our community and making a difference in the lives of others,” she said.

“As I conclude this evening,” she added. “I challenge each of us to be like Robert was.”

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