EDGARD — St. John the Baptist Parish firefighter Jeremy Chauvin is starting to feel the heat, but he’s pretty happy about it.

Chauvin was announced Monday as a finalist in Hormel Chili’s America’s Best Firehouse Chili Contest.

Now he and the other two national finalists will go to New York City for the final cook-off Aug. 23 at the New York City Fire Museum.

The winner will receive $10,000 for their fire station. Second and third place finishers will receive $2,500 for their stations, along with a nice supply of chili products.

Hormel also will donate $20,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation in the winner’s name.

“I’m excited and I’m nervous,” Jeremy said. “I really didn’t think it would get this far but there’s no turning back now.”

Jeremy, who is assigned to the Edgard Fire Station, entered the nationwide contest last month at the urging of his mom, Donna, who thought it would be a nice way to honor her son and Jeremy’s brother, Spencer Chauvin.

He was the St. John District Fire Chief who was killed while working the scene of a car crash on the Interstate-10 last year. Two other firefighters were injured.

“She really gets all the credit,” Jeremy said of his mom. “She does all kinds of things to keep busy and to honor my brother, Spencer. This was her idea. I was just the only one who could enter so I did.”

Donna also had a pretty good recipe handed down from her family.

After she pieced it together, Jeremy sent the entry, which included a lovely tribute to his fallen brother and how everyone remembers him for “the Spencer way.”

“My brother Spencer was a wonderful person and became a great leader in the fire department,” Jeremy wrote. “He loved everything about fire fighting and loved being able to help and serve others. He has become my hero and the hero of our department and of our community. It is in his honor and memory that we, the brotherhood of St. John the Baptist Parish Fire Department, dedicate this recipe to his legacy.”

Jeremy’s recipe made the first round of cuts and was put on the contest web site for a popular vote. Family and friends then took to social media to politic for votes.

“It was incredible,” he said. “People we don’t even know were telling us they were voting for us. They were sending us messages saying, ‘I voted.’ After I started hearing that I figured we had a pretty good chance.”

Jeremy’s entry was one of the top three finishers, along with a firefighter from Hershey, Penn., and one from Naples, Fla.

Jeremy has no doubt his recipe will take the top prize.

“I’ve been making it a lot around the station,” he said. “Everybody’s been mopping it up so it must be pretty good.”