On the night of Feb. 4, four Prince George’s County firefighters found themselves in a Seat Pleasant neighborhood that seemed like a war zone.
According to officials: The Rescue Squad arrived on the scene of a shooting with multiple victims down. Police secured the scene and waved rescue workers forward.
A woman was on the ground in front of a house suffering from gunshot wounds. As Fire Lt. John Woods descended from his rescue truck, he saw police officers running around the house. The attacker was near and the Rescue Squad was exposed.
There was no police cover, but the firefighters pulled the woman to safety anyway, taking her away in an ambulance as lifesaving treatment was provided.
Other ambulances soon arrived, but were turned away because of the unsafe conditions. As they backed out, firefighters saw a police officer carrying a woman in her 60s. They jumped out and took her on board an ambulance as well, saving another life.
“Although the conditions surrounding this incident were intensely perilous, the crews did not permit that to deter them from performing their duties,” fire department spokesman Mark Brady said in a statement.
For their efforts, Woods and firefighters Timothy Barden, Jonathan Coleman and Matthew Kershaw all received a Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department Emergency Service Award on Monday.
“These actions speak highly of these individuals and are representative of the extremely dangerous job that firefighters and paramedics perform on a daily basis,” acting Fire Chief Eugene Jones said.
