Greenfield firefighter wins award for his community service



GREENFIELD (WITI) --  Leader, role model, and hero are the words Greenfield Firefighter Greg Holz's friends and colleagues use to describe him, winning him an award he never saw coming.

"Shocked, surprised, It just came on so quickly," said Holz.

Greenfield Fire Chief Jon Cohn nominated Holz for the Liberty Mutual Firemark Award for Community Service.

Holz has spent the last 25 years visiting area schools to teach kids about fire prevention.

"If we can make one kid safer that's going to spread not just to that kid but to his or her family, friends, neighbors, anybody," said Holz.

He uses his spotted friend Pyra the dalmatian and his newest addition little Pierce to demonstrate how to feel if a door is hot to determine whether you should open it during a fire, along with how to stop, drop, and roll.

This is much more than a job for Firefighter Holz, it's a passion.

"It's all about helping people. Where else can you get that kind of satisfaction," said Holz.

Now Holz is in the running to win a national award from Liberty Mutual for his community service.

If he wins, $10,000 will be donated to the Greenfield Fire Department and Holz and his family will win a trip to Orlando, Florida.

"It's nice to show Greg that we appreciate what he does, our community appreciates what he does and hopefully we bring home a national winner," said Chief Cohn.

The Greenfield Fire Department will be notified if Firefighter Holz won the national award in April.