Emmaus police, fire and ambulance corps first responders were recognized May 19 with a ceremony and a $100 donation for each at the Emmaus Lodge 792, Free and Accepted Masons, 48 N. Second St., in the borough.

The lodge leader, Worshipful Master Jacob Brown, related the history of first responders back to ancient Roman culture, and noted the country's first organized fire department was founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin, a mason.

A $100 donation for the Emmaus Police Department canine unit program was presented to Chief David Faust and Sgt. Karl Geschwindt, both masons, honoring Faust's first Emmaus Police Department officer assignment as the department's first canine handler.

Emmaus Ambulance Corps Chief Mike Nonnemacher accepted a donation on behalf of the ambulance corps. A $100 donation was also designated for the Emmaus Fire Department.

First responders present were given a lapel recognition pin for their service to the community.

Faust was the speaker for the event. He showed a video compilation of the Dec. 30, 2010, armed robbery of KNBT bank, Main St., Emmaus, to contrast the real-life hometown police work with television police dramas.

The video showed bank surveillance videos of the robbery in progress, coupled with dash camera coverage of the two Emmaus patrol vehicles involved in the pursuit and apprehension of two of the three robbery suspects within minutes of the robbery.

The video was overlaid with audio between the bank patron who called in the robbery in progress, the dispatches from the Lehigh County 911 Communications Center and the communications between two Emmaus patrol officers to coordinate their response.

The video shows shots being fired at Emmaus Patrol Officer William Bryfogle's vehicle, Bryfogle ramming and disabling the getaway vehicle, Sergeant Troy Schantz running down one of the suspects with his vehicle,and a subsequent foot chase during which Geschwindt and Salisbury Police Department Patrol Officer Budd Frankenfield captured a second suspect.

Through police interception of cell phone traffic, the third suspect was apprehended the evening of the robbery.

Geschwindt and Frankenfield received commendations for their part in the pursuit and capture, Schantz was cited for bravery and Bryfogle received the EPD's highest honor for valor under fire.

Bryfogle's patrol vehicle was hit by five rounds of 10 fired from the getaway vehicle during the pursuit.

"Those actions by Emmaus's finest is police work as real as it gets," Faust commented.