On February 10, 2026, Omar Kaleem received the Harry L. Cooper VFW Post 160 Firefighter of the Year Award for 2025.
The Odenton Volunteer Fire Company (OVFC) can only survive if members of the community step up and join the company. This requires people to dedicate a significant portion of their time (and themselves) to the company. OVFC is very fortunate that Omar decided to join the company. He was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Maryland. He was always looking for a way to give back to the community when he found OVFC and joined in July 2023. He quickly integrated into the company and has become an invaluable member of the Saturday Day crew.
Omar has completed all the requirements necessary to be qualified to ride a fire engine, which included CPR/AED, Hazardous Materials Operations and Firefighter I. After getting cleared to ride in July 2024, he responded to 79 fire calls in 2024. Through September of 2025, he responded to 109 calls and worked 36 shifts totaling 303 hours.
Omar is continuously looking to grow as a firefighter and enrolled in an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class as soon as he could. He is currently progressing through the course, balancing that coursework with riding the fire engine on Saturdays. He has started his student rides on the ambulance and is excelling in class.
Firefighter Kaleem always makes his Saturday shift and helps the crew round out. He has started taking new members under his wing, and trains them to meet the extremely high standard that the Saturday crew requires. This allows the shift officer to focus on other duties, making the entire shift more efficient in the process. Saturday Day shift needed a member to step up into the mentor role for new people, and Omar has stepped into that roll.
If you wish to become a member of the OVFC please visit our membership page –> HERE.
