Department of Fire and Rescue

The Sons of the American Revolution are honored to formally recognize and commend the following individuals for their exemplary service and dedication, demonstrated in recent events where each showed exceptional courage, professionalism, and lifesaving skills.  Their actions not only upheld the highest standards of emergency response but also brought great honor to their respective units and the community they serve.  We are proud to announce that each of these individuals has been recognized by the Sons of the American Revolution for their exceptional contributions:

Paramedic Rescue 502

Lieutenant Austin Wing – Fire Safety Award

Technician II Jonathan Carter – Fire Safety Award

Technician II Mario Midence – Fire Safety Award

Technician II Thomas Sedell – Heroism Award

On August 23, 2024, Paramedic Rescue 502 was dispatched to an EMS call in their first due area. While en route, the officer of Rescue 502 recognized that a car fire was being dispatched in their direction of travel. Rescue 502 contacted communications and advised that they would be diverting to the car fire and to place another unit on the initial EMS call. As Rescue 502 arrived on scene, multiple panicked citizens approached the rig and stated that there was still someone inside of one of the vehicles. Communications was simultaneously upgrading the call to an accident with entrapment. Paramedic Rescue 502 positioned to block traffic and protect the incident scene observing a two-vehicle accident with one vehicle well involved with fire in the passenger compartment.

Technician II Sedell, the driver of Rescue 502, immediately donned his bunker coat and gloves, grabbed a dry chemical extinguisher and proceeded to initiate fire attack while simultaneously attempting to rescue the victim. The rest of the crew donned full structural PPE and SCBA and promptly proceeded to the vehicle with two water cans to continue rescue efforts. Rescue 502’s crew withstood high heat conditions without the protection of a hoseline and were able to remove the victim rapidly from the burning vehicle.

The entire crew should be commended for their ability to mentally transition from one call type to another and operating efficiently during a high acuity call. It was later determined by police that the individual had pumped almost 20 gallons of gasoline into the passenger compartment of their vehicle prior to the incident. This contributed to the intense heat and flames that the crew experienced creating heightened potential for harm to the crew.

For this act of bravery, selflessness and the willingness to attempt to preserve life, Paramedic Rescue 502 should be commended.

Lifesaving Award

On June 19th, units responded to Camping World at 10850 Ballsford Rd. for an auto accident with extrication. 911 caller reports of individuals that had become trapped between two campers. R522 was the first unit to arrive on the scene and found a large crowd gathered around two RVs and on-site staff getting ready to use a forklift to free two patients trapped between two RV style campers. Staff stated one of the RVs had rolled back pinning them both against another RV. Recognizing that using a forklift would cause additional injuries, R522’s officer immediately stopped the rescue attempt and assessed the scene. Confirming that there were two patients caught between the RVs R522’s officer immediately asked for an additional medic unit. E522M established command, while M522 had requested two helicopters. Unit officers quickly developed care, transport, and extrication plans. Additional resources were requested to assist units on the scene and to establish an LZ. It was determined that the fastest and safest course of action to free the individuals would be to winch the front of the RV away using a snatch block wrapped around the front axle. Members of E522M and T504 were positioned in the cab and on the hood of the RV to assist the patients while the RV was winched off them. Both patients were extricated, packaged and placed into the medic units where they were treated for life threatening injuries. Both medic units responded to the LZ and transferred patient care to the flight crews where they were flown and treated at the local trauma center. 911 call received 09:35 Units dispatched 09:37 First unit on scene 09:39 Patients extricated 09:48 Total extrication time was 9 minutes.

On June 19th, a call came in from the Camping World RV Dealership for the report of an auto accident with possibly persons trapped between two campers. Upon arrival, Rescue 522 found a large crowd gathering around two RVs. with staff preparing to utilize a forklift to free two patients who had been pinned in between two campers that had rolled into one another. At this time Engine 522 established command, while Medic 522 requested two helicopters. Unit officers quickly developed a care, transport and extrication plan, which included the need for additional resources. It was determined that the fastest and safest way to free the two patients was to utilize the winch mounted on Rescue 522, pulling the RV free of the patients. Once free, both patients were packaged and taken to the LZ, where they were flown to the local trauma center. From the time the first unit was on scene, to the time the two patients were extricated was 9 minutes. 

Incident Number

FD240024843

Date of Incident

6/19/2024 12:00 AM

Unit Numbers

E522 Capt. Harry Wood Technician II Davin Hoffman Technician I Connor Armstrong E508 Technician II Josh Herron Technician II Kyle Straker Technician I Josue Cuadra M522 Technician II Kevin Dewhurst Technician I Steven Thorne M511 Technician II Anthony Rinaldis Lieutenant Blane McGlothlin R522 Lieutenant Ross Shannon Technician II Brandon Simon Technician II Keith Kraus Technician I Jeremy Bane T504 Lieutenant Josh Thomson Technician II Kelly VanWingerden Technician II Ewan Baird Technician II Will Norman SF501 Lieutenant Stephen Horvath

 

Technician II Andy Gomez – Lifesaving Award

On the evening of November 22, 2024, a crew at one of our firehouses sat down to eat dinner together. As the crew began to eat, Andy noticed that one of his crew members was not acting right and kept looking down at the table attempting to cough. Several others at the table asked if the crew member was ok to which they were signaled to stand by. While it was unclear to some the severity of the incident, Andy jumped up from his seat at the table and proceeded to perform the "Heimlich" maneuver two times to assist in clearing the obstructed airway. After this maneuver, the affected crew member stated that food was definitely lodged in their throat and they were unsure if they would have been able to clear it without assistance. Andy reacted without hesitation to assist his crew member when he thought their life may be in jeopardy and for that reason he has been recognized with a Lifesaving award.

Helene Response

Prince William's Water Rescue Team deployed to Southwest Virginia to prepare for the impact of Hurricane Helene. The team was staged with 4 boats and 7 Rescue Personnel. On September 27th, the team was relocated to Damascus, VA. This area got over a foot of rain in just a few hours.  The creeks on both sides of town had been diverted straight through the middle of the town. The team was sent downtown to rescue 3 adults and 2 dogs that were trapped by flood waters in their home. The flood waters had already carried away other structures, fire apparatus and multiple cars. The residents were unable to self-evacuate and one of the adults was elderly and could not walk without assistance. This house backed up to the waterway that had already washed away their neighbor’s house off its foundation.  Their house had been filled with 2 feet of water already. The team anchored ropes off a telephone pole on the main street and attached to an inflatable boat. 2 members got into the boat with life jackets and rescue equipment. They were lowered by rope systems, approximately 100ft, where they could make access to the house via the back deck. 2 elderly females were extracted from the home first. A second operation of the system allowed them to rescue the remaining adult male and 2 dogs. Without the quick decision making of the team, and while operating with limited resources, they were able to rescue this family as conditions continued to worsen. All members put themselves directly in harm’s way to rescue these residents who had no other options.  The team continued to work for over 48 hours rescuing and evacuating 24 people and 2 dogs in total.  No fatalities were reported in this area of Virginia.

Prince William Water Rescue Team - Heroism Award

Battalion Chief Jonathon Moore

Lieutenant Danny Beck

Lieutenant Ross Shannon

Lieutenant Mike Mishler

Technician II Julie Schwartz

Technician II Michael Shannon

Technician II James McCue

 

 

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