Faison Improvement Group recognizes Fire Department — with plaque from Alaska

FAISON — At some point in time (no one knows when), someone (no one knows who) placed a gold-plated firefighter’s axe, beautifully mounted on a wooden plaque, on a shelf in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska — and then, apparently, forgot all about it. But in a story fraught with uncertainty, one thing is for certain: Whoever put the axe on that shelf could never have guessed that it would one day end up in North Carolina, soon to be displayed in Faison’s Fire & Rescue building.

Monday evening, on behalf of Faison Fire & Rescue, Fire Chief Lee Kennedy accepted a gift from Faison Improvement Group (FIG), given in recognition of the Fire Department’s many contributions to the community it serves. That gift, of course, was the axe from Alaska.

In presenting the plaque to Chief Kennedy, FIG member Mike Stempek, said, “I see the Fire Department as the backstop. Up at the Little League field, you throw a bad pitch, the ball goes to the backstop. You’re here to kind of backstop a bad event — fire, flood, auto accident. You’re the backstop, you’re the emergency responders.”

Stempek noted that, while citizens do see when and how the Fire Department responds to situations, they often don’t see the firefighters’ behind-the-scenes efforts. “We certainly acknowledge and appreciate the amount of time and training that it takes,” he said.

Beyond responding to emergency situations, Faison Fire & Rescue was lauded for the many ways in which it interacts with the community, from loaning out tables and traffic cones to cooking hot dogs to giving kids plastic firefighter hats, at a wide range of events, including (but not limited to): fund-raising yard sales for the Boy Scouts, Easter Egg hunts, the Faison Farmers’ Parade, Trunk or Treat, and the town’s Movie Night.

While there are mysteries surrounding the origin of the plaque presented to Faison Fire & Rescue (Who put it on that shelf in Alaska? When was it put there? And, why?), the question of how it made its way to North Carolina can easily be answered: Stempek, the FIG member who made the presentation, is a Faison resident who also happens to travel back and forth to Alaska, where he works as a physician’s assistant in a medical clinic in Prudhoe Bay, north of the Arctic Circle. “It’s truly remote,” he explained. “We’re as far north as you can get.” To emphasize his point, he added, “We actually have polar bear warnings up where we are.”

Stempek recounted that he and his coworkers were rearranging a storage room in their medical clinic, when, tucked away on a bottom shelf, they discovered a wooden plaque with a gold-plated axe mounted on it. Unfortunately, there was no engraving plate to indicate the owner of the plaque, so they checked with the local Fire Chief, who had no knowledge of it and gave them the okay to do with it as they saw fit.

“Then I thought about it,” Stempek recalled. “I thought I could repurpose it and bring it back [home], but obviously, it can’t be carry-on luggage…So I wrapped it up in cardboard and duct tape, and I put a luggage tag on it.” And, he said, the plaque made the trip from Alaska to North Carolina without incident. “Didn’t get any damage at all.”

Once back in Faison, he conferred with his fellow FIG members, who enthusiastically supported the idea of presenting it to the local Fire Department. It was made official when they had an engraving plate added to the plaque, which reads: “Faison Fire & Rescue, Presented in appreciation by Faison Improvement Group (FIG), 2024.”

Upon receiving the plaque, Chief Kennedy thanked FIG and expressed the Department’s appreciation for being given opportunities to be involved with the community.

“We’re glad to help y’all in any way, and y’all always help us,” he said.