Montgomery Resident Lands Firefighter of the Year Award

As a child growing up in Arizona, it was Amy Scheller’s brother who set his sights on being a firefighter.

“He would hang out at Station 25—for him that was exciting,” Scheller of Montgomery said. “As a small kid I thought it was kind of cool, but nothing I latched onto,”

In college at at Aurora University, Scheller still wasn’t completely sure what her career path should be.

“I went into health services and dabbled with the idea of working in an ER,” she said.

After one of her college counselors suggested she take out an application at one of the local fire departments to see if it interested her, Scheller volunteered at the Montgomery Fire Department and found her calling.

“They gave me a lot of great opportunities to learn the fundamentals and basics of firefighting,” she said. “I truly began to fall in love with fire service as a whole.”

While her brother became an engineer, Scheller has spent the last 13 years employed by the Naperville Fire Department, and has a total of 20 years in fire service. She was recently promoted to the position of lieutenant and is the first female officer in the department’s history.

Through her tenure with the Naperville Fire Department, she has been awarded merit and unit citations, and is currently is a member of the dive team and is a swift water rescue technician and an emergency rescue diver.

Recently, the Exchange Club of Naperville named Scheller as the 2011-2012 Firefighter of the Year.

Exchange Club member Marty Walker said a nomination form is given to the fire chief, who distributes it to the department.

“The membership has the opportunity to nominate who they feel deserves the award based on the criteria,” he said. “In Amy’s case, she has so many reasons above the actual criteria, which made our decision easy.”

Some of the criteria: a humane handling of difficult situations, outstanding acts of courtesy, kindness and courage, and continuous devotion to an area which assists the Naperville Fire Department and the community.

For Scheller, the recognition came as a “pleasant surprise.”

“You don’t ever expect it because the things you’re doing are part of your job,” she said. “It’s what you're hired for.”

She is honored to have been chosen.

“It put a smile on my face for a couple of days, even when the guys are giving me grief,” she said.

As the recipient of the Exchange Club of Naperville’s award, Scheller will act as a Ribfest tasting judge, participate in the Labor day Parade, and assist the Shanower family in laying the wreath at the .

Scheller enjoys her work with the Naperville Fire Department.

“This is an outstanding job,” she said. “It’s rewarding to know that when you’re working with a family member that maybe has an emergency you can make a difference and change the outcome.”