Many members of the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department were recognized for outstanding achievements and dedication to service at this year's awards banquet, held Saturday at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt.

More than 180 people attended this year's festivities, including members past and present, career personnel, newly appointed Prince George's County Fire Chief Ron Siarnicki, members of sister companies Waynesboro and New Franklin, representatives from several local fire companies including Riverdale, Brentwood, Chillum-Adelphi and College Park, members of the Hyattsville City Council and the leadership of the Prince George's County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association and Ladies Auxiliary.

After a brief social hour, the event moved into the awards stage, which began with several special award presentations.

Career firefighter Charles "Pappy" Hardesty, who retired in August after spending almost his entire 27-year career assigned to the Hyattsville station, was recognized with by City Council member Lucille Brogden for his dedicated service to the citizens of our community.

Hyattsville VFD life member Bill Barnard presented Chief Donald "Doc" Moltrup and President Jonathan Ransom with a letter of citation to the Department from Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening.

Don Ringer, recently retired Fire Chief of the Waynesboro Volunteer Fire Department also presented Chief Moltrup with a special recognition award.

A dozen members of the Department were then recognized for their time of service to the Department in the last year, as measured by the number of emergency fire and EMS responses.

Jeff Werth, a live-in member and former Member of the Year, was the Department's top responder in 1997, responding to 668 fire and EMS calls. On the non-live in side, Dave Iannone was the top overall responder with 542 calls last year. Other top responders in 1997 included (in order of number of calls): Dan Nichols (659), Danielle Dwyer (583), Mike Walker (564), Keith Rinehimer (557), Dave Hang (497), Marshall Davies (482), Curt Bergstrum (447), Thomas Falcone (407), Annette Saunders (355) and Christine Runfola (344).

"The amount of calls these members respond to is one of the major reasons we are able to provide a constant high level of service to our communtiy with the majority of responses handled by our dedicated volunteers," Department spokesman Capt. Herb Hasenpusch said.

The Engineers Award, a special award given for the first time this year, was given to the four members of the Department's engineering staff - Charles Harvey, Mike Monroe, Jim Courtney and Dan Nichols - for their work on the day-to-day jobs "keeping the emergency response vehicles on the road, our tools in order and the firehouse walls standing up."

Annette Saunders was the recipient of a special achievement award for her hard work in putting together an extensive database of member training and certification. "[Annette] has tackled this head-on ... the ability to track this information significantly attributes to the professional service the HVFD gives to the citizens," Hasenpusch said in presenting the award.

The Department's maps coordinator, Keith Rinehimer, was recognized for his countless hours over the past fews years putting together an impressive, complete map system of the Hyattsville area that is among of the best of any department.

Dave Iannone, the HVFD's webmaster, was also recognized for his hard work in getting the Department online and recognized worldwide.

President Ransom singled out members Jim Courtney and Dan Nichols for community service awards, presenting them with glossy covers of the Washington Post and Journal newspapers on which they appeared in October following the Department's Open House.

The Annual, and most sought-after and coveted, awards concluded the program.

There were two recipients of this year's Rookie of the Year award, recognizing outstanding and dedicated service by a member of the Department who has been participating for 18 months or less. Volunteer firefighters Hakeem Fomadu and Scott Lone were this year's winners, both actively participating in the duty night and training programs, as well as completing Firefighter I.

The Most Improved Member Award, given to the volunteer who has shown the most promise and continued growing dedication to Department activities and goals, was awarded to Mike Walker. Mike, a college student who lives at the station, was active throghout the year in just about every facet of the Department. He took over last year as the lead property officer, responsible for ensuring all of the HVFD's supplies are stocked.

Volunteer Lieutenant Marshall Davies was this year's winner of the Firefighter of the Year award. Last year, Marshall was one of several HVFD members involved in a dramatic rescue at a house fire in Hyattsville. Earlier this year he and another HVFD firefighter were burned while battling a blaze in Mount Rainer. He completed Fire Officer II training last year as well as being turned over to drive additional units.

Danielle Dwyer, one of two EMS Sergeants at the HVFD, was this year's winner of the EMS Member of the Year award. Last year she played an integral role in getting the new ambulance in service as well as developing our new ambulance billing program. As a live-in member for six months, she was also the top EMS responder. She is also an active participant in the county's EMS committees.

The Chief's award was given this year to Dan Nichols, Mike Monroe and Jim Courtney. As the Department's apparatus engineers, they were actively involved in ensuring that all of our apparatus was in service and serving the community.

Ransom presented his Presidents Award to Jim Courtney, for his committment to the volunteer spirit over the last year. "Everytime I came to the firehouse, he was the one person I could count on for making me remember what being a volunteer is all about," Ransom said. Courtney is a live-in member from Virginia who attends Unviersity of Maryland University College.

The final award was the Member of the Year award, presented to Sergeant Dave Iannone, the Department's Fire Marshal.

"This recipient was selected by his peers for his overall contribution and dedication to the Department," Hasenpusch said. "He does not desitate to give this organization in many ways." Iannone has been a member of the Department since 1987, starting as a cadet.

Last year, Dave organized the Department's Open House, along with Asst. Fire Marshal Annette Saunders, and also heped improved the Department's image by taking on the role of public information officer in addition to his webmaster duties, Hasenpusch said.

Dinner and dancing concluded a very successful event.

Members from the College Park and Brentwood stations filled-in at the Hyattsville station, as well as HVFD Engineer Mike Monroe, to ensure that the community continued to receive a high-level of service while our members celebrated their accomplishments of the last year.