Firefighters have always played valuable roles in the safety of the community.

So, the Montgomery County High School’s Future Business Leaders of America group plans to reward the firefighters’ courage and dedication by honoring them at this year’s Hero Night, which is scheduled for Oct. 10 during the high school football game against Bowling Green.

The firefighters will be recognized at halftime of the game, which will start at 7 p.m. at Jim Blacklock Field.

“We were torn between our local animal shelters and our firefighters,” said MCHS junior Dakota Marion, who is the FBLA president. “Our firefighters are all voluntary, which means they don’t get paid for what they do. They do it all on their own time. They do it all on their own will. Our local animal shelter was just recently closed down, but we really didn’t have anywhere to donate that money, so we settled on the firefighters because they’re totally voluntary and they deserve that recognition.”

In addition to the recognition of the firefighters, FBLA Hero Night will hold a 60/40 raffle and a silent auction. All money raised will go towards the local fire stations.

“Our donation is going to the Montgomery Fire Department in general,” Marion said. “It can be used for equipment. It can be used for just about anything.”

Hero Night has been an event that has been held annually at MCHS for several years. Last year, the FBLA honored Wellsville resident Avery Penn for his fight with an inoperable brain tumor as well as other cancer victims.

Thousands of dollars have been raised through fundraising events, such as the cornhole tournament and bingo night.

FBLA held its cornhole tournament on Oct. 1 at the MCHS gymnasium. This year’s event drew 36 participants and awarded winners in the adult and high school divisions.

“We raise a lot of money at the cornhole tournament every single year and it’s really amazing,” Marion said.

FBLA has a new officer team that includes Marion, vice president of membership Anna Klekamp, vice president of communications Addison Brower, treasurer Eden Hoffmann, parliamentarian Owen See, secretary Elizabeth Naumann and points reporter Sonder Cole.

“We recently got one of our portions completed for us to get championship chapter, which is the highest chapter that we can achieve in FBLA,” said Marion, who was the chapter’s treasurer last year. “It’s our goal every year to reach at least gold chapter, but we just submitted our first thing and we’re on to our next unit. We’re doing pretty good. Our number counts are pretty good and we really got an amazing officer team.”