Maryland EMS workers who responded to the riot on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., last week called their experiences inside the Capitol building "sobering," even for members who were accustomed to treating assault victims.
A post on the Glen Echo Fire Department's Facebook page described what the first responders encountered as they deployed to the Capitol on Jan. 6. The department had been on alert leading up to the day because of "the potential for a mass casualty event which could overtax the District of Columbia’s already robust law enforcement, fire and EMS response capabilities," the post stated.
When Glen Echo Fire Chief William Dunn saw rioters overcoming barriers at the Capitol and overwhelming law enforcement officers, he sent out volunteer EMTs and medics to join other Montgomery County EMS workers at the scene.
"The Glen Echo responders then loaded into apparatus and traveled downtown to join partners from other Maryland and Virginia departments," the Facebook post stated. "They all understood this mission would probably be unlike any they had experienced, and it was."
At the Capitol, a Glen Echo ambulance crew assigned to an EMS strike force treating victims had to navigate through debris and banners tossed aside by rioters in order to treat injured victims—including police officers—who had been beaten or crushed by the crowds.
"As EMT (Andrew) Parco transported a victim of the rioting to George Washington Hospital, he weaved the ambulance around police cars and snow plows blocking the streets," the department said. "It was the type of public service he signed up for when he volunteered at Glen Echo Fire Department, but he truly hoped that neither he nor his country would ever again witness such an attack."
Glen Echo EMS workers treated a variety of injured people, including a seriously injured police officer who had been dragged down the Capitol steps, as well as an individual who had been attacked with a bicycle rack.
"Although accustomed to treating victims of assault, the experience inside the United States Capitol was particularly sobering, even for veteran EMTs," the department said.
