Retired Coos Bay Volunteer Firefighter Steve Schneiderman has chronicled his 25 years of service with awards and memorabilia. They line his walls and mantel.

But the Award of Excellence he received this spring at the Oregon Fire Chief’s Association annual awards banquet in Portland was the final send off in his career, after he retired last year from firefighting. This award, for grants he’s written to benefit the community and state, is the one he’s most proud of.

“This was my big one,” Schneiderman said, sitting in the living room of his Coos Bay home. “It was an honor to receive it. It’s nice to be recognized.”

Schneiderman, 46, grew up in Coos Bay. He remembers his early interest in firefighting began while in high school.

“At old Marshfield High School football games I always went down on the field to see the fire engine,” Schneiderman said.

His break came when former Fire Chief Andy Anderson took him on as a volunteer. Anderson assigned him to a fire engine and treated him like one of the crew right away.

“It wasn’t too long before Andy taught me how and promoted me to an engineer,” Schneiderman said.

When former Chief Cliff Vaniman came on the job, he promoted Schneiderman to lieutenant captain.

“He let people work to their potential,” Schneiderman said. “He developed programs and let people work within their programs.”

In Schneiderman’s career, he served as president of the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association for two years. He is the fourth Coos Bay volunteer firefighter to become president. He received the Award of Excellence at the awards banquet for writing three grants which brought in $620,000. Two provided funding for state programs for recruitment of volunteers and fire prevention.

One from the Department of Homeland Security supported statewide fire safety education in Oregon.

“OVFA President Steve Schneiderman deserves tremendous credit for his work in obtaining the grant and partnering with others to leverage the grant funds for maximum effectiveness,”  State Fire Marshal Nancy Orr said in a June 2007 edition of the “Gated Wye.”

Schneiderman earned honors as Volunteer Officer of the Year twice.

Since he retired, Schneiderman has started his own business doing consulting and grant writing for other fire associations. This year, he wrote a grant for the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association, which was awarded $366,000 toward a television campaign “to encourage people to become a volunteer firefighter in their communities.”

“I decided to start the business because I have a passion for the fire service and it’s a way to stay involved,” Schneiderman said. “One of the big things now is fighting the fires before they start with fire prevention programs.”

But that’s not his only job.

The Schneiderman family has owned and operated Marshfield Bargain House for three generations. Steve Schneiderman is now running the operation.

Schneiderman still volunteers for the Oregon Life Safety Team, a division of the office of the Oregon State Fire Marshal, and the Oregon Fire Safety Coalition.

“I’ve had a great 25-year fire career,” Schneiderman said. “I’ve helped save lives. It’s very rewarding.”