Heroes Hunt honors retired firefighters

RIVERSIDE - Local firefighters were accorded respect and appreciation Sunday morning as the guests of honor at the annual Heroes Hunt sponsored by the Linn County Chapter of Pheasants Forever.

Chapter President Jeff Pitlik said the hunt is 'a way for us to thank public servants who put their safety on the line for the common good.”

Nineteen active and retired firefighters, mostly from Linn County professional and volunteer departments, participated in the guided hunts at Highland Hideaway Hunting near Riverside.

'We appreciate what you do every day,” said Wade Kisner, who coordinated the event and guided three retired firefighters on the hunt.

Those three, all once avid pheasant hunters, had gone a combined 72 years since their last pheasant hunts.

Bob Dolezal, 67, who retired in 2003 after 16 years as chief of North Liberty's volunteer fire department, said he had not hunted pheasants since 1974, the year his dad and longtime hunting partner died.

'It was a rush to shoot a pheasant with the shotgun my dad gave me for my 16th birthday,” Dolezal said.

Steve Weable, 73, who retired 16 years ago from the Cedar Rapids Fire Department, said the pheasant he shot Sunday was his first in 11 years.

Retired Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Steve Havlik, 64, said he quit hunting pheasants 20 years ago when his beloved pointing Labrador died.

Havlik said the public perception of firefighters changed dramatically after New York City firefighters' highly publicized heroism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attack.

Havlik said he especially admires volunteer firefighters, whom he considers small communities' first line of defense against fires, floods, storms and other potential disasters.

They take all the risks, they don't get paid, and they often have personal relationships with the victims, said Havlik, who served as incident commander at the Cedar Rapids Emergency Operations Center in the aftermath of the devastating Flood of 2008.

'You face danger and see horrible things, but it's part of the job,” said Havlik, whose department executed 423 boat rescues during the 2008 flood.