Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Christine Wiseman and Fire Fighter/Medic Captain John L. Wiseman (photo from PG County Sheriif’s Office)
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department and Office of the sheriff gratefully acknowledge the College Park Moose Lodge #453 for their recognition of our personnel. The Moose Lodge presented Valor Awards for their actions at the scene of an incident in October 2017.
It was a busy lunch at Babes and Boys Tavern, also known as Top of the Hill, in Upper Marlboro, on October 24th. It was a typical lunchtime crowd with numerous Prince George’s County employees with many being from public safety. Just after 1:00 pm a vehicle left the roadway and struck the side brick wall of the building. The vehicle drove through the wall into the dining room narrowly missing Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Christine Wiseman by mere inches. There was catastrophic destruction to the building’s interior with several occupants injured. The video shows the destruction and aftermath. Seated at the counter enjoying lunch was retired Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Lt. Colonel John Proels. He sustained severe lacerations about his head as well as contusion injuries. Once he gathered himself and cleared off the dust he went to doing what he was trained to do, start helping others. Despite being seriously injured he started to move debris to access a critically injured patient that eventually succumbed to his injuries.
Christine Wiseman immediately went to help the injured and evacuate the walking wounded. She was soon joined by her husband who had arrived to enjoy lunch. Fire Fighter/Medic Captain John L. Wiseman arrived as the dust from the crash was still settling. Fire Captain Wiseman began to assess the victims and cleared a path for the firefighters and medics quick access to the most critically injured. Additionally, Wiseman was able to relay critical information to responding incident commanders and fire/EMS department personnel, as they arrived. Off-duty Fire Fighter S. Zamary also arrived on the scene moments after the crash occurred and before any Fire/EMS department arrived and without hesitation went to work assisting with patient care, evacuation and scene safety.
These public safety personnel were presented with Valor Awards from their respective agencies for their heroic actions in April 2018.
On Friday, August 17, 2018, the College Park Moose presented their Valor Awards to
Retired PGFD Lt. Colonel John Proels
Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Christine Wiseman
Fire Fighter/Medic Captain John L. Wiseman
Fire Fighter/Medic Zamary
Proels and Zamary were out of town and unable to attend the ceremony.