Owensboro’s fire and police departments along with the Daviess County Fire Department helped provide Bowling Green and Mayfield with special aid over the last several days as those communities begin their recovery from tornado damage.
OFD Fire Chief James Howard said that Mayfield was in need of firefighters Saturday for structural collapse rescue — and help was found from all over the commonwealth including a 14 firefighters from OFD and DCFD.
Howard said those 14 did not come back home until Sunday.
The two teams were working amongst members from Lexington and Louisville fire departments and members of the National Guard due to the higher level of training.
“They had that higher level of training to be able to search those sites there at the candle factory, to dig through and try to make every effort to try and rescue anybody that was still there,” Howard said.
Howard said the training for structural collapse rescue is one of the more difficult disciplines for firefighters to learn, and the team consists of roughly 20-25 members.
Meanwhile, Bowling Green was in need of some help sorting through a wooded area and some neighborhoods throughout the town.
OPD called down to Bowling Green and quickly sent 15 members of their team down to help in any way.
OPD Major J.D. Winkler said those that served went on a volunteer basis.
“We did rely primarily on officers that were volunteering on their days off, so we could make sure the services to our citizens here weren’t impacted. We continued that mission through 5 a.m. Monday morning,” Winkler said.
While Owensboro was spared from major damage, officials at both OPD and OFD are thankful they could provide aid to the area during this time.
“We feel really fortunate that we didn’t need the help here in town. We’re really glad that we have the capabilities that we’re able to send folks,” Howard said. “Because we know, obviously, if anything like that ever happens here in the future, that other folks are going to come to help us as well.”
