As the old saying goes, “There’s been a lot of water under the bridge,” since you’ve heard from me. No pun intended. As in many other areas of our great state, we were very much impacted by the recent rains and flash flooding. West Plains received several million dollars in damages that consisted of 300 residences and 100 businesses receiving damages. We, along with the help of the Region H Swiftwater Rescue Team from St. Joseph and Bethany, Missouri, were successful in rescuing over one hundred people from their homes, vehicles, and off of rooftops, etc. Most importantly, with the help of the good Lord above we had no fatalities or major injuries.
I also want to thank Missouri Division of Fire Safety Statewide Mutual Aid Coordinator Matt Luetkemeyer for his assistance in getting the help here and other areas that assistance was needed. Also SEMA Director Ernie Rhoads was very instrumental in having the rescue teams ready and in some cases already deployed for the disaster. We hosted twenty-eight members of Missouri Task Force 1 along with their equipment. They were deployed to another location before all the fun started here but in talking to them afterwards they had a lot going on themselves. Folks if you haven’t seen them in action, our resources in Missouri are very impressive when called upon in the time of need.
If there has ever been a time that we should be able to move forward in the fire service it is now with all the leadership we have represented in State Emergency Management Agency, Division of Public Safety, and Division of Fire Safety.
In closing, if anyone in my region, District 9 has any questions or concerns about the FFAM please feel free to notify me at roy.sims@westplainsfd.org. Thanks, stay safe!
FFAM
