Story & Pictures from Bob Gibbons with The Tahlequah Daily Press
Tahlequah-Cherokee County Emergency Management command team member and Public Information Officer Scott Pettus uses a power washer to clean one of the EM trailers Saturday. EM staffers and volunteers serviced and cleaned vehicles and other equipment to get prepared for the coming storm season.
The floodwaters that ravaged the Peggs area last week are proof that Mother Nature can unleash her fury at any time.
When that occurred, Tahlequah-Cherokee County Emergency Management command team and volunteers were pressed into action. They were part of a search mission that ended with the recovery of the body of Mackenzie Beck, 2, from Spring Creek.
More severe weather is forecast this week. EM Director Gary Dotson and Assistant Director Mike Underwood organized an effort to make sure the agency’s equipment is functioning properly in the event it’s needed.
Volunteers and command team members spent Saturday servicing generators, trucks and other equipment.
Emergency lighting and “mules” – a type of all-terrain vehicles – were also tested.
“We got to Peggs last week and we realized we could have used our lights,” Dotson said. “This was just a good time to make sure everything’s in working order.”
EM has several generators that can be used in the event of a power outage, and to keep other equipment working.
A mast with several directional lights sits atop one of the trailers and is raised, lowered and turned with a remote control.
“We found some bulbs that needed replaced,” he said. “We drained all the gas and oil out of the generators and replaced them with fresh fluid.”
Dotson and Underwood said the EM agency is one of the best-equipped in the state.
They said some of that was achieved thanks to Homeland Security funds that aided with purchases of trailers and vehicles.
“We’re expecting some severe weather this week,” Dotson said. “Hopefully, we won’t need any of our lightning or generators.”
Local EM team members have used the equipment on several occasions when severe weather or other emergency situations occur.
“We’re not just for severe weather,” Underwood said. “We go out on chemical spills, searches for missing persons and a lot of things.”
The mules were used last week at Peggs to shuttle people from the Peggs Fire Department to the search area.
“They can get around in some terrain that it would be difficult for another vehicle,” Dotson said. “They’ve really came in handy more than once.”
Dotson and Underwood said the agency’s equipment is tested periodically to be certain it will work when needed.
If the first few weeks of the spring storm season are any indication, the equipment will be getting a lot of work this year.
O K L A H O M A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology
Present professional HAZWOPER training opportunities through 2008.
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