Kimberly Terhune, Valley Regional Fire Authority public information and education officer, received the Fire Educator of the Year award at the annual Washington Fire Prevention Institute Awards Banquet in Lake Chelan last week.

The Washington Public Fire Educators (WPFE), a division of the Washington Fire Chiefs, extends the award each year to a Washington fire educator who has shown outstanding dedication, leadership and service in fire and life safety education to the citizens in their community.

Terhune began her career with the legacy Auburn Fire Department in June of 1991. Over the past 28 years, she has been a leader in bringing lifesaving programs to the Algona, Auburn and Pacific communities as well as greater King County and the state of Washington.

Her notable accomplishments include starting a juvenile firesetter program for children and a fall prevention program for older adults. For those who grew up in Auburn and remember firefighters coming to classrooms or have kids in the Auburn School District who talk about firefighter visits, Terhune had a hand in making those visits happen.

Terhune was instrumental in bringing the NFPA 1035 Fire and Life Safety Educator I certification to Washington state. She served as an instructor and evaluator for the nationally recognized certification program. Because of these efforts, the Washington Survey and Rating Bureau (WSRB) gave superlative marks for the department during its periodic rating process. In 2012 and 2017, the VRFA received the highest score for public education ever given to any fire department in the state of Washington.

Terhune also spent several years as an instructor at Bates Technical College where she taught fire and life safety education to firefighter recruit classes.

“I was fortunate to walk into an education program that was already well established and successful when I began my career with the VRFA 10 years ago,” said Kelly Hawks, VRFA public information and education officer. “Kimberly has a positive attitude and is always willing to share her wealth of knowledge with her peers. We are all better fire and life safety educators because of her leadership,”

Deputy Chief Dave Larberg added: “Kimberly is consistently bringing the highest level of professionalism and dedication to her job. She is a highly respected member of the fire educator community and is always willing to help wherever needed.”