On Sunday, February 10th, the Ocean City Fire Department held their Annual Awards and Recognition Ceremony at Ocean City Fire Department Headquarters, honoring members for their commitment to public safety and protection of the Ocean City community. The celebration, named Firefighter of the Year, Member of the Year, and Paramedic of the Year, along with several Years of Service Awards, Distinguished Service Awards and Resuscitation Awards.

This was the second year the Department recognized successful resuscitations of patients who were in Cardiac Arrest. These were patients who were successfully resuscitated and discharged from the hospital with no deficit from their quality of life before their Cardiac Arrest.  This comes after the Ocean City Fire Department adopted a High Performance CPR program that has increased the Department’s survival rate to almost 40%.  Well above the national average of 11%.

Along with Chief Larmore, Deputy Chief Chris Shaffer, and Deputy Chief Moe Cropper, several dignitaries attended the ceremony, which began with the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company (OCVFC) Ladies Auxiliary Awards.  The OCVFC Ladies Auxiliary Member of the Year Award was given to Verla Hammond and the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Cheryl Nottingham.  In addition, the Ladies Auxiliary donated funds they raised to the John Paul Adkins II scholarship fund, the F. Michael Sacca scholarship fund, the OCVFC cadet program and the OCVFC.   

Following the Ladies Auxiliary, awards were presented for length of service, an incident citation for a  spear gun accident, as well as an umbrella impalement. The Chiefs Award was presented to Michael T. Todd, the President’s Award went to Robert D. Korb, the Member of the year was David E. Hedges, and Training Award was given to Anthony J. Villani Jr with 160 hours of additional training, with an honorable mention to James C. Kvarda with 159 hours.  The top honors went to Fire/EMS Paramedic of the Year, Ryan L. Cropper; Fire/EMS Firefighter of the Year, Christopher M. Gee; and OCVFC Firefighter of the Year, Jason L. Bloom. 

“Most of our members did not devote themselves to the fire service in order to be recognized or awarded for their actions to their community,” Chief Larmore continued. “Despite their modesty and humbleness, every member of our organization has contributed to our success and I am thrilled to have been able to honor just a few of those men and women here today.”

Complete List of Award Recipients:

Volunteer Firefighter of the Year:            Jason L. Bloom

Career Firefighter of the Year:   Christopher M. Gee

Paramedic of the Year:                  Ryan L. Cropper

Member of the Year:     David E. Hedges

Training Award:                                Anthony J. Villani Jr.

Chief's Award:                   Michael T. Todd

President's Award:          Robert D. Korb

Incident Citations:           Robert E. Magee, Thomas Ryan McCready, Christopher M. Gee, Christopher G. Weber, Christopher M. Barrs, David H. Pruitt, Keith A. Bennett, Richard T. Koch Sr., Greg C. Dypsky, Michael A. Lecompte, Kyle Tanner, Steven H. Twilley, Mark T. Lloyd, Damian A. Jones, Ethan D. Hitch, Chrsitopher M. Gee, Brian L. Bond, Jeffery R. Aperance Jr, William C. Savage III.

Active Years of Service Awards

5 Years:                Jeffery R. Aperance, Christopher M. Gee, Nicholas L. Kinhart, Eric M. Olson, Yvete M. Rode, Jason A. Williams, Ryan L. Whittington, Ryan C. Womer, David Quilter, Captain Greg Dypsky, Anthony Sandulli, Jason L. Bloom, Guy Talbot

10 Years:              Chief Chris Larmore, Chief Moe Cropper, Asst. Chief Connor Braniff, Scott Shuster, Kevin Knowles

15 Years:              Joseph Sexauer

20 Years:              Chris Kehne, and Jerry Priestly