On January 4th, local resident Allan Bowman became disorientated while driving and drove off the road.

Unfortunately, though, Mr. Bowman wasn't positive where he was, but thought he was somewhere near his home.

After calling 911 to inform them of his situation, a search party ensued, which involved a HAWCS helicopter from Calgary.

It wasn't until the morning of January 6th that a longtime acquaintance went looking for Mr. Bowman on a hunch.

Mike Luchia has known Mr. Bowman for about 40 years.

"That was one of the big reasons why, I think, he wanted to take it upon himself to go out and put some effort into searching, and trying to do his best to see if he could help with the search," explained Diamond Valley Fire Chief T.J. Moore.

During Luchia's search for Mr. Bowman, he saw some tire tracks heading into a field, which sparked his curiosity.

After following the track for a bit, Luchia determined that these tracks were not leading to where Mr. Bowman was, so he turned back and started head out of the field.

During his walk back to the road, Luchia decided to hop a fence and check to see if Mr. Bowman somehow made it down into a nearby ravine.

It was there that he located Mr. Bowman.

Because of that, Mike Luchia recently received recognition from the Diamond Valley fire department.

"The town of Diamond Valley found that it was important to recognize one of our local residents, Mike Luchia, after he was a pivotal person to find a lost resident back in January," explained Fire Chief Moore. "It was his efforts that led to Mr. Al Bowman being found and being able to be transported to medical care."

Moore says that the biggest thing they wanted to recognize is that Luchia took time out of his own day to go look, even though it was cold and early in the morning.

"It was his intuition and his gut instinct that led him to find Mr. Bowman, which then he had to travel down a bit of a ravine. And then he stayed with Mr. Bowman and then helped EMS get him out of the ravine and off into the helicopter. So, we think that was very important work that he did that deserved to have that recognition and make sure that he knew that we recognized that what he was doing was something over and above what most citizens do and that it's important we recognize that," said Moore.

The Diamond Valley Fire Department recognized Luchia by awarding him the rare Fire Chief Commendation, which is awarded to those who have done something over and above what is expected from the everyday person.

"In this case, it was a certificate that had the story of what happened and recognized Mr. Luchia for his actions. And it's something that fire chiefs do in different municipalities, where residents or people within the community that do things just over and above and deserve that extra recognition," says Moore. "It's an opportunity to put that story on paper and, sort of, cherish it forever with some sort of recognition. In this case it's a plaque and there is a special coin that Mike will get that embodies what the commendation was for as well."

The commendation was presented to Mike Luchia at the Diamond Valley Town council meeting on February 21st, so that the mayor and town council could be part of the presentation.

Even though Mr. Bowman was found, he was exposed to the January cold for approximately two days and was in critical condition.

And after he bravely fought to overcome his injuries at the hospital, Mr. Bowman unfortunately passed away.

Fire Chief Moore says the Town of Diamond Valley appreciates how many citizens went out searching for Mr. Bowman.

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