James Heenan of Westville, became a junior firefighter in his teen years with the Verga Fire Company in West Deptford. He later went on to serve the Company as a volunteer firefighter in various offices: lieutenant, captain and assistant chief while working as a dredge operator in Middlesex County for 15 years. James met his wife Patty at the fire hall. They had two sons, James and Michael. Called to a fire on New Year’s Eve and believing residents to be trapped inside, he entered through the back door of the burning house. When the wood beneath him collapsed, he was caught between the burning floor and the basement. It took fellow firefighters 30 minutes to reach him. After a three-month struggle to survive the fourth degree burns over 80 percent of his body, he died in March 2001, the first NJ firefighter to perish in the line of duty since 1999. A volunteer firefighter for more than 18 years, James Heenan well knew the risks that face firefighters with every call to service, and yet he rushed into a burning building. The family of James Heenan accepted the top award and a $50,000 grant to the James Heenan Trust Fund.