For Immediate Release: September 14, 2022

The Northern Virginia EMS Council recently awarded the Alexandria Fire Department’s Medical Services Deputy Chief Brian Hricik and Acting Emergency Manager Ray Whatley with the Outstanding EMS Leadership and Outstanding Contribution to EMS Emergency Preparedness and Response regional awards respectively.

Hricik began his EMS career with the Alexandria Fire Department in 1997 after volunteering in Prince William County. Over the past 25 years, he has proven himself as an outstanding EMS leader and advocate for a high performing EMS system. As the Medical Services Deputy Chief, Hricik is a part of the Department’s senior management team and participates on the Washington Metropolitan Council of Government’s EMS Committee which focuses on addressing EMS challenges in Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Hricik worked diligently with internal and external stakeholders to provide information and care for the Alexandria community while ensuring the safety of first responders. In previous years, Hricik has also served as president for the Northern Virginia EMS Council and was appointed to serve on the state’s EMS Advisory Board.

Whatley has been the Acting Emergency Manager since March 2020. Immediately after stepping into this role, Alexandria began preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Whatley used his previous experience as an EMS provider preparing for and handling the H1N1 influenza to efficiently prepare the city for impacts from COVID-19. Whatley worked with the City Manager’s Office to organize the Emergency Operations Center and establish the city’s unified command.

Throughout the pandemic, he became an integral part of keeping unified command on task by helping to develop regular Incident Action Plans (IAP). As the pandemic worsened and many city agencies began operating virtually, Whatley and his team continued to work with the Alexandria Health Department to communicate the infection rate and information on regionwide hospital capabilities. In preparation for vaccination availability, Whatley continued working with the Health Department and other stakeholders to coordinate training for additional vaccinators and identify available resources to help prepare for large scale vaccination clinics.

The Outstanding EMS Leadership Award is presented to an individual who shows exemplary leadership and administrative skills and improves the effectiveness, response, and delivery of EMS. The Outstanding Contribution to EMS Emergency Preparedness and Response Award is presented to any individual, EMS organization or EMS response group in the Commonwealth of Virginia for demonstrating comprehensive and/or significant accomplishments for programs that provide preparedness, response and recovery from natural, man-made and preplanned events. Awardees from the region are submitted to the Office of EMS for consideration for the Governor’s Award for each category.

For media inquiries only, contact Raytevia Evans, Senior Public Information Officer, at (703) 746-5190 or raytevia.evans@alexandriava.gov.

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This news release is available at alexandriava.gov/go/3959.