By Kellen Stepler, TribLive

Nicole Hereda’s family quite literally is immersed in the Kinloch Volunteer Fire Department in Lower Burrell.

Hereda, 39, of Lower Burrell is a safety officer and fundraising chair at the station, located off New York Avenue in the city. Her husband, Ted, is chief, and their sons, T.J. and Josh, are junior firefighters.

Hereda — who earned the Connie Davis Service Award from the Western Pennsylvania Firefighters Association earlier this year — wouldn’t change that for anything.

“If we did not belong to this fire department, our lives would be boring,” she said. “I don’t know what we’d do without it.”

Hereda has spent nearly her whole life helping people. In her day job, she is the director of Medic 106 ambulance service in Oklahoma Borough. She has worked there for 20 years.

She has been a member of the Kinloch station for 17 years and got her start in volunteer firefighting in 2004 at the Elderton Volunteer Fire Department.

Lower Burrell Councilwoman Brandy Grieff said there is no one more deserving of the Connie Davis Service Award than Hereda.

“Her dedication to the fire service is inspiring, and her fundraising efforts are truly unmatched,” Grieff said. “She makes both look effortless.”

For more, visit https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/faces-of-the-valley-volunteering-and-firefighting-is-family-affair-for-lower-burrell-woman/