What a beautiful night at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. It was an honor to attend the 2026
@dcfireems Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner along with
@hillaryhowarddc.
@mauro_amy, the
@dcfireemsfound,
@FD_Observer, and the department made it a memorable night. Congratulations to all who were recognized for their outstanding and often heroic work. Special shout out to the Eastern High School Choir and those who shot, edited, and produced the great videos.
Image one shows the family of Technician Stephen Shipp Jr., who died almost a year ago of occupational cancer. It was an enormously moving speech by his wife, Sonia, as they accepted the Benjamin C. Grenup Memorial Recognition.
There were multiple awards surrounding the response to last year's Potomac River Mid-Air Collision (image 2), including the Fire Boat receiving the Company of the Year award. Some of the families of those who died in the crash were on stage applauding the large group of firefighters who responded on that awful night.
Image 3 shows an extremely grateful father with a wonderful speech thanking the firefighters who rescued two of his children. They were trapped in the basement during a fire at 4012 14th Street NW. His speech was in Spanish, but even before the translation, you could tell his words were from the heart. Another beautiful moment.
The last picture is from a video honoring the work of various employees of the year. Of course, I must acknowledge and congratulate my friend of 45 years, Vito Maggiolo. That's a picture of Vito with his fellow fire buff, Elliot Goodman. Vito, who was a decades-long CNN veteran (he was there at the start of the network), is retiring from this second career in a little more than a month. I know Vito would expect my snarky self to say, "It's the end of an error." It really is the end of an important chapter in sharing the story of DC Fire & EMS. You served them well, Vito, but Chief Greg Dean made one big mistake when he hired you. The chief could have made the city some money. He just didn't realize that Vito would have paid them to get that job.
Good work by emcees
@brianmitchell, Fred Smoot,
@JenniferHomendy, and
@AimeeCho4.
#firefighters #EMS
@ThePIOAcademy @PIOMarkBrady @PIOPete