JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It is an honor to profile those who protect and serve us. In this week's Stories of Service, we take that one step further and profile a veteran who continues to serve those who serve.
The sound of sirens means that every second counts, but such is the life for Mayport Fire and Emergency Services Lieutenant Ricky Woronka.
"It's a fantastic responsibility and I feel blessed to be able to have that responsibility," said Woronka, "we love it every day, we love to be able to go out, we love to be able to help people, we also go off base, we have Navy members off base and the general public that we assist JFRD with mutual aid."
Woronka's life is built around service. He served our country in the Army for 10 years and left as a Staff Sergeant, his father was a police officer for 30 years and his sister has been a police officer for more than 20 years. This month he will also be recognized for his work with Mayport Fire and Emergency Services, which was named one of the best departments in the Navy.
"It's awesome to have that accolade that your peers, subordinates and supervisors all agree that we want to put you forward for it and the outside community recognizes you for it, it's kind of surreal," said Woronka, "but all of us don't do it for that."
Being a dedicated firefighter is extremely demanding and causes Woronka to be away from his family for long stretches of time. He said he's lucky to have the support of a family who loves him so he's able to support thousands of sailors at Mayport.
"You have to have a very strong family base and I really do with my kids Clay and Cody and my wife Ashley supports me 100%," said Woronka, "and they have to run the household for 2-3 days at a time."
All so he can help protect thousands of other people.
If you have a Story of Service that you would like us to profile, send us an email to storiesofservice@firstcoastnews.com