Northville honors ‘Firefighter of the Year’

Lt Northville City Firefighter of the
Year Lt. Matt Samhat is congratulated
by his wife, Annie.

Lt. Matt Samhat was honored as the 2019 Northville City Fire Department firefighter of the Year at the annual holiday dinner on Dec. 6.
 Assigned to Station 1 in downtown Northville,  Samhat combines his responsibilities as an on-call firefighter and EMT with a young family and his own construction and property management business, according to officials. He comes from an entrepreneurial family - his father has his own law firm and his grandfather was a builder.

In addition to his firefighting and fire officer certifications, Samhat is a certified State of Michigan Fire Inspector, a member of the Western Wayne County Urban Search and Rescue Team, and manages the department IT needs.
Northville Fire Chief Steve Ott, who selects the recipient and presents the award, noted that the choice was particularly difficult this year. “There were many deserving people who have worked hard during the last year to help make this department a more professional organization, dedicated to serving the public”, he said.
“Samhat stood out for his work on three successful federal grant applications, the development and launch of a probationary training program, and his work as one of the department's child safety seat installation technicians,” he added.
Since joining the department in 2012,  Samhat has received commendations from the Northville Police Department and the Novi Department of Public Safety for work that he and others did assisting those agencies.
Samhat received a plaque for Firefighter of the Year and his name now appears on the master plaque in Fire Station 1. Like the other on-call personnel, Samhat will respond to the station in response to an alarm, and then respond to the call for service in a department vehicle.  Last year, Station 1 responded to approximately 700 of the 1,600 calls for service received by the department.
“It's hard to say that I deserve it when there are so many people in the department who do so much,” Samhat said. “I accepted it on behalf of others in the department and all the hard work they put in all year.
“Everything that I do for the department is only possible with the help of my wife and family,” he added. He and his wife, Annie, have two children, Max, 12, and Lila, 9.