The Homer Volunteer Fire Department was recently honored by National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis., for HVFD’s work in developing the Kids Don’t Float program. Chief Bob Painter was instrumental in developing the program in the early 1990s, through collaboration with other local programs and a $20,000 grant. The National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame’s selection committee described Kids Don’t Float as “perhaps the best program ever developed to produce real results, to save lives of youngsters boating and fishing in our nation’s waters.”