Corey Shaker Is New Deputy Chief in Woodbury Volunteer Fire Dept

WOODBURY – Corey Shaker, ceo of the Shaker Automotive Group, is the new deputy chief of the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department. “He’s been a member for twenty years” says Fire Chief Janet B. Morgan, “and captain of the Hotchkissville Company in the department since 2010. We appreciate all the time and effort he’s put into our ongoing fire and rescue operations. He is hardworking and popular.”

Shaker, whose family auto group is in its eighth decade, was elected to the Woodbury Fire Department’s number two post on June 9th for two years starting July 1st. He was succeeded as captain in Hotchkissville by Andy Heavens, a former special education teacher now working in the Shaker group. Heavens, a department member for 22 years, had been a fire lieutenant since 2017. Heavens is replaced in the first lieutenant slot by Joseph Corey, an executive at Unilever and a Woodbury firefighter since 2005. “We welcome Joe to his first post as an officer,” Chief Morgan said.

At the same time, Matt Gereg was named as the new second lieutenant in the department’s Orenaug Company. Gereg is a former Woodbury firefighter who rejoined the department when he returned to the area last year.

The department met for its annual dinner on Wednesday June 30th in the 1754 House where special awards were handed out. Firefighters also got their first look at the department’s newly purchased all-terrain utility vehicle to carry firefighters and gear into wooded areas or other terrain impenetrable to the department’s larger vehicles. Among those who took their first chance to sit behind the wheel was new Deputy Chief Shaker. (photo)

Bud Neal, proprietor of Neal Tree Service, received a trophy as the year’s Most Valuable Member. As Chief Morgan told the assembled firefighters, “Bud is always there whenever you need him, even for getting a cat down from a tree.” Neal has been in the volunteer department for 59 years and was Woodbury fire chief for ten. A former Green Beret in the US Army, he is locally renowned for decorating the town’s utility poles with American flags on national holidays.

Another former chief, Chuck Kiesling, was honored for his fifty years of service in the department. Kiesling is with the State Fire Marshals Office. Earl Gillette, a retired 747 pilot, received an award for responding to more call-outs than anyone else in the department. Gillette answered to 280 of the 360 runs logged by the department in the past 12 months from July 1st 2020 to June 30th this year.

For the first six months of 2021, total call-outs numbered 144. Of those, the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department dealt with 11 fires and 38 rescue emergencies, mostly motor vehicle accidents. Another 14 runs were for hazardous situations such as gas leaks or downed wires. The remainder included service calls, false alerts from smoke or CO detectors, and other efforts. ###