City of Wheeling Honors Public Safety Standouts
Photo by Derek Redd Trending
WHEELING – The City of Wheeling's police and fire departments celebrated their best and brightest Thursday afternoon, holding their annual public safety ceremony. First responders and guests packed the WesBanco Arena lobby to hear about and applaud the good work done in both departments in 2022.
The afternoon was highlighted by the departments announcing the top employees in their respective ranks. Cpl. Ryan Moore was named the WPD Officer of the Year, while Fire Engineer Nicholas Carson was named the Paramedic of the Year and Firefighter Trevor Adkins was named the Firefighter of the Year.
In describing why Moore was the police department's top officer for 2022, Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said Moore epitomized everything positive about the department. Officers become eligible for Officer of the Year after being nominated for Officer of the Quarter. Moore, Schwertfeger said, was nominated each quarter last year and won in the fourth quarter.
"He has a tremendous drive," Schwertfeger said. "He's 150% every time he comes to work. He cares about his community. He cares about his people. He truly wants to make Wheeling a better place."
Moore, who has spent eight years on the force, said it felt good to be honored by his peers and commanding officers. Without them, he said, an award like this would not be possible.
"It's very humbling," he said, "because all of those guys have been in my spot. So it means a lot coming from them. They just set the example for me to follow.
"I've had great leadership from many people and I've also had great lessons on leadership," Moore added.
Carson and Adkins were unable to make Thursday's ceremony, but Wheeling Fire Chief James Blazier had plenty of good things to say about both.
Blazier said that Carson no longer is assigned to an ambulance regularly, but he remains an invaluable asset to the department.
"He never hesitates to seize a teaching moment to help our newly trained paramedics grow into seasoned experienced responders," Blazier said. "He is often consulted on incidents and is able to guide due in part to his depth knowledge of treatment protocols, and the experience brings to the table."
Adkins, Blazier said, may be a young firefighter, but his fellow firefighters belive he embodies the best attributes of the department.
"He performs his jobs, not only on calls, but around the station as well," he said. "He seeks out additional training opportunities outside the department is one of the first to step up when something needs done, or to plan organize events outside the department. He holds departmental high regards and his work performance shows."
The two departments also introduced its newest hires and promotions from 2022, as well as honored dozens of staffers for their work. Much of that work came in combatting the drug epidemic that has affected the Ohio Valley, and in answering the call of duty in last year's "double derecho" storm that left damage throughout the city and knocked out power for days.
Others honored Thursday afternoon were:
Fire Department Commendations
Meritorious Conduct
Firefighter Ryan Loveland
Non-Fire Unit Commendation
Lt. Kody Geisel, Firefighter Andrew Furbee, Firefighter Courtney Engle, Firefighter Lucas DeWitt
Purple Heart
Capt. Robert Heldreth, Fire Engineer Daniel Brown, Firefighter Hayden Johnston, Firefighter Joshua Dent
Exceptional Duty
Fire Equipment Manager Clark Graham
Commendation
Fire Engineer Christopher Haney
Medal for Bravery
Fire Engineer Thomas Ames, Fire Engineer Robert Waldron, Firefighter Andrew Furbee, Firefighter Joshua Dent
Promotions
Fire Engineer
Jacob Howard, Camden Boggs, Ryan LaCoe, Logan Bell, Dominik Vallera, Charles Myers
New Hires
Matthew Alexander, Seth Burek, Jarred Beihl, Ty Sicurella, Jeremiah Quattro, Daniel Gordon, Kevin Kinik, Mo Khan, Zachary Heslep
Police Department Commendations
Meritorious Performance
Sgt. Jason Hupp, Cpl. John McKenzie, Cpl. Jason Martin, Cpl. Jason Chambers, Cpl. Erick Burke, Cpl. William Castilow, Pfc. Brandon Hoehn, Pfc. Jacob Skinner, Pfc. Cayden Hennen, Pfc. John Wolf, Crime Analyst John Wroten
Medal of Merit
Lt. Gust Kepreos, Sgt. Rick Robbins, Sgt. Jason Hupp, Sgt. Ben Young, Cpl. Jason Martin, Cpl. Robert Scott, Cpl. Ryan Moore, Cpl. Erick Burke, Pfc. Colt Thomas, Pfc. Cory Castilow, Pfc. Brandon Stanley, Pfc. Brendan Ross, Pfc. John Wolf, Ptlm. Tyler Davis, CIC Martin Haynes
Lifesaving
Sgt. Robert Safreed, Cpl. Robert Agostino, Cpl. Dean Redinger
Community Service
Pfc. Cody Schwertfeger
Department Commendation
Cpl. Ryan Moore, Pfc. Cayden Hennen, Pfc. Rebecca Tobiczyk, Ptlm. Patrick Ryan
Chief's Eagle Award
Sgt. Jason Hupp, Sgt. Doug Howell, Cpl. Erick Burke, Cpl. Jason Martin
Department Appreciation
Michael Lloyd, Kristy Myers
WPD Eagle Award
Chief Shawn Schwertfeger
Promotions
Corporal
Dean Redinger, Gerald Mitchell
Patrolman First Class
Colt Thomas, Blake Paxton, John Wolf, Cory Castilow, Cayden Hennen, Trevor Brough, Collin Jamison, Rebecca Tobiczyk, John Miller, Christipher Cook
New Employees
Zachary Herron, Nolan Brough, Cory Rager, Tyler Davis, Brandon Edge, Samantha Baker, Grace Lontz