While many Upstate New Yorkers enjoy spending the last weekends of summer watching Syracuse University football, soaking up the sun at Green Lakes State Park, or doing anything to take their mind off work, Richard “Rick” Kunz devotes his Saturdays to the South Bay Fire Department in Cicero, where he works as a volunteer member.

Kunz has been a part of the South Bay FD for as long as he can remember. His late father, George Kunz, was a charter member and a former president of the station.

“In 1955, I was three years old, playing with my trucks while my father and the rest of the guys around here were building the original fire station,” said Kunz. “Our family has been part of this fire department for years–I’m just the extension.”

Kunz’s whole life has been rooted in service. In addition

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