Each year VFW posts around the country search their respective communities for a candidate who has demonstrated outstanding and selfless contribution in one of the following categories: firefighter, emergency medical technician and law enforcement officer.

 The selection process begins at the local VFW post, and continues upward to the district, state and national levels. Each level requires a separate independent board that reviews each candidate's résumé and the accomplishments they have made throughout their life.

 Kinney finished at the state level and was named VFW Firefighter of the Year for 2006-07 for Tennessee.    Kinney received recognition from the Tennessee VFW State Commander in Chief in Nashville on December 13. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredeson, state Senator Tommy Kilby and state Rep. Jim Cobb also honored him at the state capital on March 14.

 At 18, Kinney joined the Nichols  Volunteer Fire Department  (Wappasening Hose Company) and has been in the fire service ever since. He helped found the Nichols Emergency Squad and completed the American Red Cross Standard and Advanced First Aid courses, the only emergency medical response training available in 1969. 

 Kinney enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and while stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, joined the Greater Anchorage Area Borough Fire Department as a part-time paid firefighter.

 After being honorably discharged from the Air Force, Kinney returned to Nichols, where he served as firefighter, emergency squad member, assistant fire chief and ultimately fire commissioner.   

 He completed the newly formulated EMT certification training in 1977 in New York and is now considered to be one of the longest serving, continuously-certified EMS responders in the country.

 In 1986, he moved to Spring City, Tennessee, and became one of the first firefighter/ EMTs at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. He retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1999. 

He also joined the Rhea County Fire Department and served as deputy fire chief in the 1980s. 

 In 1988, after completing several fire investigation courses, Kinney was named fire investigator for the Rhea County Fire Department and arson investigator for the Rhea County Sheriff's Department. 

 Kinney has also served as an adjunct instructor for Chattanooga State Technical Community College, the Tennessee State Fire School and the National Fire Academy. He currently serves as assistant fire chief and fire investigator for the Rhea County Fire Department and deputy director of the Rhea County Emergency Management Agency.

 Along the way, Kinney managed to complete an associate's degree in business management and a bachelor's degree in fire science.

 Kinney and his wife, Sue, live in Dayton, Tenn., and have one son who serves as a paramedic in Atlanta. He can be contacted by e-mail at arsoncop@volstate.net.