The Mentor Fire Department has named Jerry Craddock as their new Public Education Specialist. Jerry will take over for Firefighter/Paramedic Nathan Peters who will be returning to shift work after serving five years in the position.
Mr. Craddock has spent his entire fire-safety career at the City of Mentor, having first joined as a part-time firefighter in 1985. He has been a full-time firefighter/paramedic with the Mentor Fire Department since 1992.
Water safety is a particular area of interest for Craddock. He has served as an active member of the Mentor Fire Department’s water rescue dive team since 1994. For the past five years, he has also worked as a national coordinator for a non-profit water safety education organization which focuses on safe boating and the use of life-jackets.
In 2013, Jerry received a “Pillar of Support” award from the United States Coast Guard for his contribution to a presentation on the Coast Guard’s strategic plan for recreational boating.
Craddock is eager to dive-in to his new role.
“I’m very excited to be in this position. I really hope to start delivering safety messages to our young people and reinforcing that message each year as kids grow older all the way to young adult. I sincerely believe in the power of education! It’s not that people don’t want to be safe, it’s just I think people need to be periodically be reminded to be safe,” says Craddock.
Craddock assures that safety messages don’t necessarily have to be boring. “I want to bring interesting facts to my presentations and have some fun along the way,” he concludes.
Mentor Fire Chief, Bob Searles, adds, “We’re looking forward to having Jerry out there sharing his knowledge and promoting our safety messages to keep the community safe and we can’t thank the community enough for their support. ”