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LAKE STEVENS—South County Regional Fire and Rescue (SRFR) presented the rare Distinguished Public Service Award to Braven Auto and Metals Thursday, March 26, recognizing their continued support of public safety and partnership in training first responders.

This is only one of a handful of times the SRFR has presented this award since its inception.

Since 2015, Braven Auto and Metals has donated more than 800 cars a year to local law enforcements and fire agencies across Snohomish and King Counties to be used for first responder training purposes.

These cars are then used to create realistic situations in which there may be a car crash, or other similar emergency, where victims might be still trapped inside – to allow new fire fighters and incumbent fire fighters the opportunity to practice extrication techniques.

“Braven has also been supportive in delivering vehicles on site, to some of our stations, or when we do public events, so we can also demonstrate these skills to the public to not only reinforce the work that we do, but how we can support them if they find themselves in an unfortunate position.” said SRFR Deputy Chief Michael McConnel. “They’ve really gone above and beyond and we just wanted to make sure they are acknowledged for their contribution to public safety and the community at large.”

These cars (mostly passenger vehicles) are purchased by Braven for recycling purposes, either through auctions or by the public selling them. They’re offered to local law enforcement at no charge.

“These are all cars that are scheduled to be crushed so we figured why not get some good use out of them first.” said Shelby Poitras, Braven Metals Operations Manager. “We live in this community and we want it to be a safe place, for not only use but for all of our customers and employees and if we can be a small part of making sure that someone we know, and love, is in need that people responding to them has had the training that they need to. We know it’s important for these fire fighters and officers to get training, not on the scene because that can be dangerous, but it’s all about community.”

Braven has also donated vehicles, free of charge, to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Stevens PD, and agencies all the way down to King County.

“This is the least we could do for Braven Metals because this saves lives. It makes people proficient, and comfortable when they go to a scene. Every vehicle is different so you have to cut into it differently. Braven will even ask how we want to vehicles to be – whether a head-on collision, or stacked on top of each other, a rollover, a t-bone,” said Steve Tickle, Training Officer for SRFR. “What they do essentially saves lives and they don’t get any recognition for that.” 

At Thursday’s recognition ceremony, approximately 25 Braven Metals employees and fire fighters working with SRFR met outside of Braven’s Lake Stevens storefront where SRFR Senior Driver Patrick Gjerd and Deputy of Chief Training Brett Fetcho shared a few words before handing a custom build award to Braven’s staff.

The award was custom built, by SRFR, by taking some scrap metal welded/mounted on a trophy base.

In addition to the trophy, Shelby Poitras was gifted with a ceremonious plaque to display in her office.

“It’s grateful that the fire department has recognized how much work we’ve put into this. It’s very cool,” said Poitras.

Author: Kienan Briscoe