On Thursday, 4 July 2019 the Sterling Rescue Bike Team deployed a team of six to assist the National Park Service and U.S. Park Police with the National Independence Day celebration in Washington, DC. The team started by assisting with the Independence Day parade that traveled along Constitution Ave. With a heat index around 100 degrees, team members were kept busy assisting people who were primarily experiencing heat related illnesses. Sterling Rescue’s bike teams served as rapid first response units while the UTV’s shuttled patients to nearby Medical Aid Stations. As patient volume at the parade end medical tent grew, UTV 615’s crew assisted the medical staff in caring for patients until ambulances from DC Fire and EMS and American Medical Response could transport the most ill patients to area hospitals.

Following the parade crews transitioned to the National Mall where they continued to provide medical support. A storm front brought rain and over cast conditions that helped reduce some of the heat stress on event attendees but the teams still responded to several people who required assistance. Sterling Rescue has supported this and other major events (to include the Marine Corps Marathon, in the DMV many years.