By Anya Litvak
Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Lancaster, PA — Blue and gray uniforms graced the front rows of the commissioners’ meeting room this morning, as the first responders to the West Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse shooting were honored by the county.
Their faces betrayed nothing.
The honorees sat silently, their shoulders back, their faces solemn, as the commissioners readied to extend the county’s gratitude to the men and women who handled the tragedy on that October day.
“It’s just something that we do,” said Hen Woerth, chief of the Bart Township Fire Company. “We’ve just never done it on this scale before.”
They are not heroes, they insisted. They’re workers.
With a proclamation from the county commissioners, Lancaster County today officially honored dozens of emergency workers and departments that responded to the Oct. 2 schoolhouse shooting in Bart Township.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Lt. Allen Krawczel, a Pennsylvania State Trooper who worked the day of the shooting. “We don’t do what we do for this recognition. You do that because it comes from something within.”
That’s why there are no stars, no heroes to be singled out, the group explained. They were all part of a united team that day, even as each of them now seeks peace in their own way.
Robert May, the Executive Director of the Lancaster Emergency Medical Service Association, said “the processing of the tragedy normally occurs post-event.”
“I think it’s important that this group gets together like this,” May said, “for long-term closure.”
But the emergency workers gathered at the courthouse this morning didn’t want to talk about themselves, how they helped or how they’re coping.
Rather, they focused on recognizing each other as a team.
“It’s everyone,” Krawczel said. “From the fire police out at traffic control points to all the individuals, investigators and EMS that assisted at the scene, that acted to bring this to an end.”
“To the auxiliary fire companies that provided meals,” Woerth added. “They’d start at 5 (a.m.) cooking eggs and wouldn’t stop till 10 at night.”
For all those affected by the schoolhouse shooting, Commissioner Chairman Dick Shellenberger offered a prayer.
“Grant us love, forgiveness so that this county can receive healing and grace to move on,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion.
Chins to their chests, the first responders lined a wall in the commissioners’ meeting room and prayed along.
Each was presented with a proclamation, inside a leather case, recognizing their efforts during and after the day of the shooting.
“It’s good to be in Lancaster County,” Woerth told his colleagues after the meeting. There may have only been 11 of them at the meeting, but it was a county-wide response, he said.
Many emergency service organization were honored for their response and efforts. The list follows:
Law enforcement units that responded the day of the shooting were: Pennsylvania State Police; Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office; Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office; Christiana, Quarryville, Strasburg, East Lampeter, and Southern Regional police departments; and Maryland State Police.
Medical groups honored were: Bart Township Quick Response Service; Christiana, Gordonville, White Horse and New Holland ambulances; Lancaster Emergency Medical Service Association (LEMSA), Susquehanna Valley Emergency Medical Services (EMS); Manheim Township EMS; Ephrata Hospital Advanced Life Support; and Chester County’s Oxford, Parkesburg and Pomeroy ambulances.
Air Medical Services honored were: Sky Flight Care (Brandywine Hospital, Chester County); Lifenet 6-1 (Christiana, Del.); Pennstar 2 (West Chester); Pennstar 4 (Reading); and Medevac 6 (West Chester).
Fire companies recognized were: Bart Township, Christiana, Gap, Gordonville, Highville, Intercourse, Kinzer, Lafayette, Lancaster Township, Paradise-Leaman Place, Quarryville, Refton, Ronks, Strasburg, Upper Leacock, West Earl, Willow Street, Witmer, all of Lancaster County; and Chester County’s Atglen, Avondale, Honey Brook and West Grove fire companies.
In Lancaster County, the following agencies responded to the event: County Wide Communications, Emergency Management, Public Safety Training Center, Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and the MH/MR Disaster Emergency Crises Outreach Team.
Other agencies contributing on the day of the shooting were: the South Central Pennsylvania Task Force (Incident Management Team); state Emergency Management Agency; Salvation Army (Canteen); Chester County Department of Emergency Services; Lancaster County Association of Constables (Security); and the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office.
The following fire companies provided standby coverage as the Bart Township fire department went out of service for a week following the shooting: Eden, Rohrerstown, New Holland, Neffsville, Millersville, Oxford, Lititz, Adamstown, and Elizabethtown. The following fire companies were on alert: Downingtown (Chester County), Manheim and Mount Joy.
County fire companies that assisted during the funerals of the shooting victims were: East Petersburg, Neffsville, Bowmansville, Bird In Hand, Pequea, Bainbridge, and Rheems Fire.
Fire-police agencies in other counties also assisted during the funerals. They included:
Midway, Third District, Doylestown No. 1, Sellersville, and Lingohocken, all of Bucks County;
Berwyn, Cochranville, Martins Corner, Po-Mar-Lin, Lionville, East Brandywine, Goshen, and Kennett, all of Chester County;
Wissahickon, Barren Hill, Washington, Plymouth, King Of Prussia, Pennsburg, Telford, Skippack, and Weldon, all of Montgomery County;
Lincoln, Rescue, and New Bridgeville, all of York County.
Other fire-police units who assisted: West Hanover (Dauphin County); Garrettford-Drexel Hill and Carrington-Stonehurst (both of Delaware County); and Dennison Township (Luzerne County).