Hurricane Irma

By superadmin | September 14, 2017 |

As Jasper County continues to clean up from Hurricane Irma, I’d like to share with you the dedicated and relentless effort of your Fire/Rescue department to keep you safe.

Thankfully Hurricane Irma stalled over the mountains of Cuba and coupled with the wedge of cold air over Central Georgia, her winds and rain were much less than what was expected. But I would bet that everyone would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.

While the expected weather was not as severe, it was still a day for the record books. Jasper County’s Fire Rescue department responded in force to the declared state of emergency. 37 personnel staffed 14 pieces of equipment and ran over 75 calls. Fire crews ran non-stop for over 12 hours crisscrossing the county to clear downed trees from the roadways, assist homeowners with trees that crashed into their homes, weather-related motor-vehicle accidents and several handfuls of non-weather related calls.

Together with the other facets of public safety, our invaluable dispatchers and law enforcement, everyone worked seamlessly together to keep roads cleared and emergencies mitigated. Several crews dealt with dodging trees while on scene as well as a few crews having trees and large limbs crash on the vehicles.

Other crews dealt with huge tree trunks, one having a radius greater than five feet! Cutting these huge trees and hauling them off the roadway, all the while managing their safety with power lines, vehicles, and other trees falling was a display of the professionalism of our department.

Personnel that served Jasper County included:

901: Chief Chris Finch

902: Assistant Chief Jarret Slocumb

Communications Truck: Shell Haddock and Maritsa Bell

Engine 1: Carlos Rhodes, Luke Steele, Steve Johnson, and Antonio Presley

Medic 1: Amber Banks, Roy Perry, and Robert Aarstad

Squad 1: Steve Milligan, Crystal Milligan, and Michael Wilson

Engine 2: Alvin McMichael and Tyler McMichael

Tanker 2: Blake Robinson

Engine 3: T.J. Johnson, Trae Standifer, and Austin Nation

Medic 3: Christina Bramlett and James Ray

Car 3: Keith Haddock and Steve Bernard