SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Spanish Fort Fire-Rescue’s Roger Few has been named Chief of the Year by the Baldwin County Fire Chiefs Association.

The announcement was made July 7 in Loxley when association president Gib Hixon, chief of the Marlow-Fish River Fire, honored Few for his leadership. Perdido Beach firefighter George McPherson was named Firefighter of the Year.

During Few’s tenure, Spanish Fort Fire-Rescue has grown from one station with fewer than 20 responders to a "well-equipped" department with two stations, 12 pieces of "front-line" equipment and more than 50 responders, Hixon said in bestowing the award.

Few joined the department in 1981, and completed his paramedic training four years later. He has served as chief since 1991, and spearheaded the association’s 2007 efforts to obtain surplus equipment for a small fire department in Clark County devastated by a tornado.

Few is a lifelong Spanish Fort resident who graduated from Fairhope High School. He and his wife, Pam, have two daughters.