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CNHI News Service Originals

February 12, 2009

Firefighters help out in Lone Grove

Seven departments send personnel

John Walker

Stephens County fire departments and emergency first responders were dispatched Wednesday morning to Lone Grove to help with the aftermath of a tornado that devastated that community around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Ed Reed, who is Carter County’s emergency management coordinator, said Wednesday morning that of the approximately 4,600 residents, 3,000 were left without electricity.

“And no one has water,” Reed said.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric personnel were out Wednesday making assessments and trying to get power back on, he said.

To help in the cleanup process and the search and rescue, Reed sent a fax through law enforcement to all emergency first responders within an hour drive of the town.

Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said that the incident command unit was dispatched to Lone Grove Tuesday evening to help, but was sent back around noon Wednesday.

“They told us they have plenty of law enforcement right now,” McKinney said.

“What they really need is the search and rescue personnel.”

In total, seven Stephens County fire departments dispatched vehicles and search and rescue personnel to assist the rescue efforts.

Velma sent four trucks, Empire, Loco and Comanche each sent two trucks and Duncan, Marlow and Doyle sent one each.

Doyle Volunteer Fire Chief Judd Newby said that the volunteer firefighters spent the day digging through debris, creeks and river beds looking for missing people.

“It was pretty tough work,” Newby said. “There were RVs in trees and cars turned over. Stephens County got lucky.”

At about 3:30 p.m. the volunteers were released from their duties and returned home, Newby said.

Loco Volunteer Fire Chief Glen Knutson said that his crew went to Lone Grove after 8 p.m. Tuesday to assist the relief efforts.

“We went from home to home checking to make sure everyone was ok,” Knutson said. “We checked the rubble and searched for victims. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw out there.”

Loco personnel returned home after midnight Wednesday morning. At 9 a.m. they met up at the fire station to head back out to Lone Grove.

“Today, we did a grid search,” he said.

A grid search is where the rescue personnel are assigned an area. They line up in that area and search it thoroughly for any survivors.

“We’ve been busy,” Knutson said. “They had a ton of help from fire departments all over Oklahoma.”

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