BLOOMING GROVE TOWNSHIP -- One year ago, troopers at the Blooming Grove State Police barracks in Pike County came under fire.
The sniper attack left one trooper dead and another critically wounded.
What followed was a manhunt like no one has seen before in the Poconos.
From the outside of the state police barracks in Blooming Grove, there's no visible sign of the carnage one year earlier.
For everyone there that night--troopers, EMTs, and more--the deadly ambush and the hours, days, and weeks that followed are very much etched in their memories.
In this story
"It's something you're never going to forget," said Tafton Fire Company Assistant Chief Mike Miller.
Chief Miller was working when dispatchers put out the call for help.
"We made the decision we wanted to get here and help as quick as possible."
"That was tough. That was tough for dispatchers," said Pike County director of public safety Bernie Swartwood. "Our protocol is not to send people into an environment like that."
Two dispatchers handled the emergency response that night from inside the Pike County training facility, a stone's throw from the barracks.
Thinking back to the selfless way everyone worked together, director of public safey Bernie Swartwood got choked up.
"Absolutely, majority of our folks are volunteers," he said. "We never get the call from state police that they need help."
You can hear gunfire in the 911 recording. It was when crews were rushing Trooper Alex Douglass out of the barracks and to safety.
"We weren't aware they were going to lay down cover fire to protect us," said Miller.
First responders say they had just one thing on their minds that night last September and that was getting Trooper Alex Douglass to a soccer field at a nearby elementary school where a helicopter picked him up and took him to a hospital in Scranton for the medical treatment that saved his life.
Only after that did those first responders begin to think about what they had been through.
"I put it off to the side and dealt with it the next morning," said Tafton Fire Chief Michael Cozza. "The next morning was a rough day."
While some emergency crews have been able to cope, others report having post-traumatic stress disorder.
State troopers have relied on their own mutual assistance program since the attack and Tafton provides critical incident counseling to get responders the help they need.
"You try to move forward but (it's) always the back of your head," said Miller.
"It did (haunt them) for quite some time," Swartwood added. "I think they still think of it frequently, don't speak of it much now. It will always stay with them, never leave."
Trooper Douglass is still recovering thanks to their actions that night. He and the Dickson family were all smiles at the Little League World Series a couple weeks ago.
Time cannot heal all, but in that one night, at least one life was saved and so many more changed forever.
"That night is something that will always be with me, and I would do it again," Miller said.
