2008 Year in Review
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Four Local Firefighters Deployed to Louisiana (Delayed) |
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11:30 a.m. Thursday, September 11 - The four guys and two trucks were North of Jackson Mississippi when the Fulton Fire truck encountered tire issues. They were waiting for the repairs to be done. 2:25 p.m. - Text message from Barry: They were back on the road. (Headed Home) Report from Morrison Fire Chief Dave Benters the four men from Division 30 will be heading home this morning (Thursday, September 11, 2008) from Bayou Kane. Wednesday, September 10: Email from Joe - Dawn, I sent a message to one of the Firemen from Bogalusa LA. that I have kept in contact with since Katrina about MABAS Division 30 being back in LA. to assist with hurricane relief. Here is the response I received. Joe, your assistance is greatly appreciated. Bogalusa Firefighters went to Plaquemine (town), which is southwest of Baton Rouge last week. They tarped roofs, removed trees, handed out supplies, and fought a house fire. The Bogalusa Firefighters that made the trip were Wes Harper, Clay Applewhite, Mike Freeman, Junior Freeman, and Michael Pierce. On Saturday Richard Moody, Brett Evans, and I pulled trailers loaded with supplies collected by Bogalusa Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary to a town called Galvez-Lake which is southeast of Baton Rouge.Yesterday, Bogalusa Fire Department Firefighters were called to assist Dist.4 with a tower rescue. A tower repairman was having chest pains 375 ft off the ground. BFD's Jamie Hemphill and Wes Harper climbed to the victim, gave I.V. fluids and oral fluids. A few minutes. later a coast guard helicopter removed him from the tower. If you need anything while y,all are down here call me. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
As disaster strikes again for the Louisiana area, four local firefighters have been called to duty to respond where needed in clean-up efforts following Hurricane Gustav. This is happening almost three years to the date, that Hurricane Katrina attacked Louisiana. Two tanker/tender trucks, one from Morrison, the other from Fulton, began their journey Wednesday morning, September 3, 2008 from the Morrison Fire Station at 2 a.m. Loaded with supplies Barry Brown and John Vanderleest, both from the Morrison Department, Ray Sikkema, Fulton, and Jim Melton, Erie, departed to Effingham, Illinois. The group arrived in Effingham at approximately 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, joining a task force of 40 vehicles enroute to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Arriving in Baton Rouge Thursday morning they are, as of Friday morning, awaiting for their orders at the State of Louisiana University’s Fire School. The University is the staging site for incoming mutual aid resources. Effingham is the receiving area in Illinois for MABAS. The three fire stations involved are part of the Division 30 MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System.) MABAS is a mutual aid organization, which includes over 1,200 fire departments in 62 divisions. Each division consists of fire departments from the surrounding area that can be called for mutual aid, in the event of a situation that a single department cannot handle. They get help to large disasters in an organized way. The Illinois (MABAS) is a model for organized Mutual Aid for the United States. Only California and Ohio have a similar organization. Illinois State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) notified MABAS on Sunday, August 31, 2008 through the R.E.D. Center (Regional Emergency Dispatch) in Northbrook, IL of the possibility of a statewide mobilization and deployment. A message was put out to all sixty-two MABAS Divisions in the State of Illinois advising them to be prepared for a possible mobilization and deployment. “The Red Center is our statewide dispatch for MABAS,” stated Gary Cook. “We have a back up center in Orland Park. Just within our local Division Mutual Aid, for each local Department, it is predetermined depending on the needs at hand. We also have a Statewide Mutual Aid Plan where we would be able to respond anywhere within the State of Illinois.” Gary is the Deputy Chief for the Rock Falls Fire Department and also President of Division 30. “When we put out the initial request to all members of Division 30,” quoted Cook. “We had six tenders willing to respond if needed. That reflects upon the great departments we have in our division. They pull together and get it done.” Recently MABAS Division 30 took possession of a generator/light tower that is assigned to the Division. The Red Center had requested at first to have the generator transported with the crew. This request was later canceled. Originally sent on a seven-day deployment assignment, their service has now been extended to nine days. This number could change to a maximum two-week tour. “Division 30 is in a holding pattern right now in case more aid is needed,” stated Boyd VanDellen, vice-president of MABAS Division 30 and Assistant Chief of the Fulton Fire Department. Three more storms are brewing in the Atlantic Ocean: Tropical Storm Hanna, Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine. UPDATE: Joe Bielema, Assistant Fire Chief for Morrison Fire Department received a call from Barry this morning (Friday, September 5) that the group was leaving Baton Rouge at 11 a.m. with six trucks (Morrison, Fulton, Stillman Valley, Sublette, Savanna and New Milford) in their fleet. They would be traveling to Bayou Cane, LA to perform general firefighter support. Editor Note: Gary, Joe, Boyd and Scott Melton, Erie Fire Department and brother of Jim will keep me posted as to updates they receive. Saturday, September 6, 2008
Call from Ray (5:50 p.m.): Arrived in Houma and are headquartered at the fire station there. A briefing meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. There is talk that the group may be split once again with one of the trucks heading southwest of Houma. Hurricane Ike has been upgraded to a Category 4 Hurricane with winds up to 135 MPH. Tuesday the task forces will be pulled from their locations and sent north to wait out the storm. Ray commented that Baton Rouge looked like a war zone already. When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana on August 29, 2005 it was classified as a Category 3 hurricane. Eighty percent of the levies that were damaged from Katrina are repaired. This leaves 20% that still need to be repaired or show some signs of weakness. According to Boyd Illinois has 65 pieces of equipment in the Louisiana area: 30 engines, 20 tenders and 15 heavy rescue units. “If Ike strikes with the power it is being predicted, we could see this number doubling,” he said. During the cleanup of Katrina Illinois had 187 pieces of equipment in that area. Barry (9:10 p.m.): Following the briefing meeting this evening they will be leaving either tonight or Sunday morning for Du Large to assist a volunteer fire department there until possibly Tuesday. He also said talk is that everyone will be moved north on Tuesday. The extension of these volunteers is still undetermined because of Hurricane Ike. Tuesday, September 8, 2008
As of today (Tuesday, September 9) the group is still in Theriot - Bayou Dularge area. They are performing Fire support missions (no fires for them to fight yet though). The town has little to no water pressure in their system so they are under a boil order. There is no supply of bottled water for the town’s people. They are expecting a shipment of water in today. The MABAS command has asked them to extend their stay until September 20th. Our group is unable to extend for that period of time. Jim is waiting to hear from command, but expects to get orders to return to Illinois today or tomorrow. Additional note: This area was harder hit than the New Orleans area so St. Bernard Parrish sent crews to this same station to help. They arrived yesterday. St. Bernard Parrish was where The Erie Engine was assigned the last week of the Katrina deployment. Interesting that the department we were helping three years ago now meet up with us again helping somewhere else. Small World. Every order is subject to change as the power of Hurricane Ike may also change. by Dawn Zuidema, theCity1.com |
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