Kudos for a job well done...

Throughout yesterday, fire department personnel (albeit mostly volunteers) opted to temporarily move in to their fire stations, ready to make the fastest response possible as the need arose. Many police, EMS and others did the same. 


And a timely response was needed in several instances. As was a call from a parent in rural Adrian who was stuck in snow on a county road while attempting to get care for their child with severe abdominal pain. Getting to the patient required the use of two National Guard Humvees, loaded with Bates County EMS, the Highway Patrol and Adrian Fire Department first responders. Due to the location of the vehicle and extreme drifted snow, a Humvee with first responders arrived at the scene and moved the patient to the second Humvee which carried Bates County EMS personnel. Unfortunately, the vehicles were not able to simply turn around and an alternate route had to be taken out of the area. While the entire operation took a considerable amount of time, the patient arrived safely at Bates County Memorial Hospital some two hours later.

Similar scenarios  played out in several other areas of the county as emergency calls came in. Coordination of various departments and the "lets work together" mindset brought everything together as planned, thanks to a pre-snowstorm meeting involving the Bates County Sheriff's Department, Bates County Hospital EMS, local fire departments, first responders, city administrators, Bates County EMS Director Kelly Phillips, Emergency Management Director Ron Nissan, Presiding Commissioner Donna Gregory and others. 


Part of the plan was to put everyone on the "same page" which included the use of the sheriff's department radio channel for all EMS operations, opening the airwaves so that everyone involved would know what was going on. Another important element was the recruitment of available National Guard Humvee vehicles, which are extremely agile in rough terrains, mud and heavy snow.

Other contingency plans included the pre-planned use of available temporary shelters, such as the Adrian Optimist Building and others. In fact, most every detail was worked out including planning of having generators, food and water available at the shelters, along with personnel available to staff them.


City crews got busy early, too. At first it was thought it might be counter productive to start plowing while the snow was still falling so rapidly, but the idea of waiting was nixed and most removal operations began before noon. The plowing allowed many city streets to remain open as the storm progressed.


As the day wore on, 71 Highway became a literal parking lot littered with stuck box trucks, tractor trailers, cars and more. Local tow and recovery operators are reporting a heavy overflow of business into today as well, as road clearing and vehicle recovery will likely continue for some time to come.


Fortunately, as of the time of this writing, there have been no reports of serious injuries in any of the many accidents and incidents that have occurred around the county in the past 24 hours. Likewise, no reports of rural structure fires as many roads will be impassable for fire trucks for some time to come.


Thanks also goes to all the unsung heros who offer the use of their farm tractors, utility equipment, four wheel drives and tow ropes to help folks who otherwise couldn't help themselves. Hats off to you- a job well done.