First responders recognized with 2020 Craig Webb Memorial Award

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    DAUPHIN COUNTY, PA (WPMT) — Three Dauphin County first responders are the recipients of the 2020 Craig Webb Memorial Award for their life-saving efforts.

The award is presented annually to exceptional first responders who best exemplify the spirit of Webb, who died suddenly in late 2004. Webb served as a firefighter and chief paramedic in Lower Swatara Township. He was also a Dauphin Borough police officer and a Dauphin County coroner.

This year’s winners received their awards as a ceremony during Wednesday’s Dauphin County Commissioners meeting.

The award winners are:

* Brian Walborn, Law Enforcement Leader of the Year: Walborn, described by his peers as a true “cop’s cop,” will retire in March as a detective from Dauphin County’s Criminal Investigations Department. A U.S. Army veteran before joining CID, Walborn was a Harrisburg police officer and a member of the Dauphin County Crisis Response Team (CRT). As a CRT member, he showed extraordinary heroism in a stand-off and gun battle in Hall Manor in 2012.
* Gene Vance, Fire and Rescue Leader of the Year: Vance has served as Steelton’s fire chief since 1998 and as member of the department for almost 50 years. His career with the borough’s fire service began with the Baldwin Fire Company, which later merged with several other Steelton-area departments.
* Garrett Miller, EMS Provider of the Year: Miller has served as the Williamstown Area EMS chief for 15 years and is a field training officer for the Harrisburg police, where he was an officer for two decades. He is a former county 911 dispatcher and had the honor of serving under Craig Webb while working for the Lower Swatara Township EMS.

Walborn and Vance were unable to attend Wednesday’s ceremony and will receive their plaque and proclamation at a later date, the commissioners said.

“These three men are heroes, and during this pandemic, the magnitude of their selflessness is magnified,” said Commissioner Mike Pries, who has oversight of the county Emergency Management Agency. “These awardees remind us of the daily sacrifices of all of our police officers, firefighters, and EMTs, who drop everything at a moment’s notice to help others.”

Winners of the award, established in 2005, are selected by the local police, fire and EMS councils. The names of award recipients are displayed on a memorial plaque, which hangs at the county’s Emergency Management Agency.

“If you add up the years, we are witnessing more than a century of remarkable public service,” said board Chairman Jeff Haste. “These three are everyday heroes who often go unrecognized, but who answer the call at all hours of the day and night, and then go above and beyond the call of duty.”

Commissioner George P. Hartwick, III, a Steelton native, said Chief Vance embodies the borough’s fire department’s spirit.

“I know Chief Vance well, and he is a fixture in our town,” Hartwick said. “All three honorees are the best of the badge. We are grateful for their willingness to serve.”

Stephen Libhart, director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, said the three personified the traits for which Craig Webb was known: “Always wanting to get in on the action; always willing to fight evil with good; never willing to sit on the sidelines when someone needs help.’’

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