TX Firefighters Help Nearby County after Tornado
Source Athens Daily Review, Texas
Athens firefighters not only responds to fires, wrecks and other emergencies but stands ready to help when disaster strikes in neighboring counties.
Chief Russell Marshall of the Athens Fire Department said that some of his personnel recently traveled to Cherokee County to be part of the recovery following tornadoes that touched down there on April 14.
According to Marshall, on April 13, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Division of Emergency Management State Operations Center, in coordination with the National Weather Service Southern Region issued a weather briefing for the following day.
The severe weather threat included the possibility of damaging winds, large hail and a few strong tornadoes for the East Texas area.
Further commentary identified that this storm system could have similar characteristics to the 2017 tornado outbreak in Canton.
Following the state weather briefing, the Smith County Emergency Services District 2 began the assembly of a regional task force made up of personnel, various types of fire apparatus and command capabilities from fire departments around the East Texas area.
Shortly after noon on April 14., a series of tornadoes touched down in Cherokee County severely impacting Alto. Around 2:30 p.m., the task force that included Athens Fire/Rescue deployed as mutual- aid resources to lend assistance.
The task force was assigned to four divisions and charged with initiating immediate search and rescue. The efforts continued into the night.
On the morning of April 15, task force members continued the secondary search and rescue operations, ultimately transitioning to damage assessment. Athens Fire/Rescue personnel contributed more than 100 man hours toward the initial response, deploying eight personnel as part of the regional task force.
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