American Legion awards Clovis firefighter with state honor

The American Legion Department of California awarded Clovis firefighter Brian Cox with the Clovis Firefighter of the Year for Community Service award Friday at its 98th annual convention at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Fresno.

Cox was presented with the Clovis Fireman of the Year award on March 9 at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District and became eligible for the award at the state level.

“Wow, it is truly an honor to be here,” Cox said after accepting his award. “I want to thank all my family for being here and Chief Michael Nolen for the support. It is an awesome award, thank you.”

Cox said the award means more to him than anything because it was from America’s true heroes, the veterans of the United States.

“It is a great honor from the American Legion, America’s true heroes, getting an award from them makes it very special,” Cox said.

Angelica Gallegos, Cox’s girlfriend, said she is proud of him for all that he does to keep the Clovis community safe.

“He is a very good person, very tender and very human, and I am very proud of him,” Gallegos said.

American Legion sergeant-at-arms Anthony Guerrero, who presented Cox with the Firefighter of the Year award, said Cox is a wonderful guy and takes his job very seriously.

“I think that it is great,” Guerrero said. “It is great for all these recipients to get what they got, especially Brian because he is a neat guy who is a very hard worker and very dedicated to his job.”

He’s also very dedicated to Clovis, having been born and raised here.

Cox was born in Clovis in 1963. He graduated from Clovis West High School in 1982 and attended Fresno City College where he received an A.S. degree in fire science.

In 1983, Cox was hired by Clovis as a reserved firefighter and because of his training as a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) technician, he was responsible for the city-owned SCBAs.

After attending the fire academy in Madera in 1984, Brian was hired as a full-time fireman in Merced in 1987. He returned to Clovis as a full-time firefighter two years later.

In addition to maintaining and testing the SCBAs, Brian was a Fire Pal at local elementary schools. Within 11 years of his return to Clovis, Cox was promoted to fire engineer, and was also the recipient of the 2000 Firefighter of the Year award. In 2003, Cox became a member of the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) SCBA Committee.

He was then involved in the formation of the SCBA consortium that included local firefighters in Kern County to Modesto and is known to be the largest purchase of SCBAs in U.S. history with over $1 million in savings for Clovis.

By 2010 Cox became the chairman for the NFPA, which is responsible for the SCBA communication. He has been involved with a number of fundraising events such as Fill The Boot, Cash for ‘Stache, and Champ Camp Chili Cook Off. Cox also assisted with department functions such as retirement luncheons and retirement ceremonies.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 8:56 PM with the headline "American Legion awards Clovis firefighter with state honor."