People / Spotlight on achievers

Firefighter Joe Cucinotti has been promoted to fire captain for this city of 55,000 residents.

“From the beginning of his career, back in 1980, Joe took on more than most, always striving to reach above and beyond what is asked of him,” Fire Chief Bernard F. Heimos said.

When Cucinotti was 17 and working at a health spa, he used techniques he had learned in a high school class to resuscitate a client who had collapsed. From then on, Cucinotti recalls, he new that serving the community was his calling.

He began his firefighting career while he was in the Air Force. He became a Fountain Valley firefighter in 1983 and was promoted to engineer in 1991.

Cucinotti, 36, a Huntington Beach resident, was recognized as Firefighter of the Year in 1990 and was “Mr. December” in the 1985 Firefox Calendar, a fund-raiser for burn victims. He will also be an Olympic torchbearer when the flame passes through Orange County April 28.