Congratulations to Chief Will Lawman! Chief Lawman was awarded the Dr. Henry L. Burke Memorial Award for Squad Person of the Year at the Charles County Volunteer Fire & Emergency Medical Services Association Banquet on Friday, January 6, 2017. This is a very prestigious award presented annually. Recipients are nominated by fellow members and voted on by the Charles County Emergency Medical Association. Dr. Burke was our first Medical Director. The award is to go to someone who has shown leadership and dedicated service, not only to their own company, but to the community and to the association as well.

Will became a member of Cobb Island Volunteer Fire and EMS Department in 1994 at the young age of 16. However, from a very young child of around two, his grandfather and father who were also members continuously brought him to the fire house where his love for public and community service started. Will has always had a compassionate heart for helping anyone in need.

Will is a Nationally Registered EMT/Paramedic, BLS Instructor, CPR Instructor, Emergency Vehicle Operator, Firefighter, and more. Will continues to ensure his skills are up to date by constantly maintaining his certifications. Without being in a teaching mode, Will shares his knowledge to his volunteer EMS providers on a routine basis. Will has held positions of Assistant and EMS Chief and is currently the department's Chief (Fire and EMS).

When you live in a small community, you either know everyone or are related to them so it isn’t unusual to run a call for someone you know. One of Will’s first calls as an EMT happened to be arriving on the scene of a motor vehicle crash to find out it was his brother. Will’s composure as an EMT never wavered. The EMS Chief at the time asked Will if he would be able to continue the call knowing that it was a family member? Will ensured the EMS Chief that he could as he told her, “I know my brother better than anybody.” During his volunteer career, thus far, he has had numerous Life Saving “saves”, among the most recent, two cardiac arrests and one choking victim. Without Will’s detailed skill, it was feared that the patients would not have survived the transport to the local hospital. Will is extremely humble on all of his lifesaving saves.

Will is a devoted humanitarian to his community. Most recently Will spear-headed the transition for a family who became displaced from their home destroyed by fire. Will, advocated to our community for assistance for different types of donations to assist this family with CIVFD and EMS being the drop off point. He received numerous calls in regards to assistance for this family. Within two weeks’ time of being displaced they were completely re-housed.

In years past he has applied for and awarded EMS related grants, thus saving the department funds that would have had to come from their budget. Will was instrumental in CIVFD and EMS receiving their first LUCAS a few years ago. This vital piece of equipment has greatly enhanced lifesaving procedures since Cobb Island is 25 miles away from the nearest hospital.

While this award is predominately EMS based, Chief Lawman exceeds all expectations in both the EMS and Fire divisions of the Cobb Island Volunteer Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services. He may be a Volunteer EMS Provider/Paramedic, Operational Chief in the field, and a person behind the desk to ensure we have the budget for the equipment needed to care for our community, but through our eyes, we see him as much much more, and we feel he is very deserving of this Dr. Henry L. Burke Memorial Award for Squad Person of the Year.

Please join us in extending congratulations to Chief Will Lawman!! Kudos!!