Firemen from Howard, city help clean up after Hurricane Florence
When Gordon Wallace, the assistant fire chief for Howard County, started an assignment in Harrells, N.C., he said he was stunned by the number of people who refused to leave their flooded homes.
The rural town was ravaged by Hurricane Florence, which has claimed at least 42 lives. Power was out, food was scarce and most roads could only be accessed by boat. Yet many people stayed. “They are a very resilient people,” Wallace said. “People hunker down and they don’t want to leave.”
Wallace was sent to North Carolina Sept. 16 alongside eight fellow Howard firemen to help with cleanup efforts. They were part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Task Force that included nine firemen from Baltimore, five National Guard troops and seven FBI agents who accompanied the team for protection.
The group checked on the well-being of residents in the town about 65 miles northwest of Wilmington, N.C., where the hurricane made landfall. They encountered homes submerged in water, yet only two people had left the small town during the period of mandatory evacuation, ac- Howard County and Baltimore fire personnel deliver food and water to local residents trapped in their homes in North Carolina. cording to Wallace.
The team’s mission wasn’t extraction. The primary goal was to provide medical assistance and dole out packets of meals, ready-to-eat, or MREs, and water.
Wallace said the group encountered at least 200 people. he said they were thankful for the help — and many returned the favor. Team members, who would usually eat MREs when deployed, were offered barbecue chicken, hot dogs and chili, ham, casserole and chocolate chip cookies by residents.
“We miss Maryland, but we are glad to be here helping people out,” Wallace said. “We are happy to offer assistance.”
The group returned to a staging headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, and was expected to get further assignments.
The FEMA group weren’t the only local responders to Florence. This past week volunteers from the American Red Cross of the Greater Chesapeake Region also deployed to North Carolina. Red Cross officials said that since local response was gearing down, many volunteers that were held back were being allowed to deploy to the Carolinas.
Officials said 25 Red Cross staff had been deployed by late in the week, with others scheduled to depart. In all, 87 local Red Cross members had been assigned over the last few weeks.
Other help from Maryland has included members of the Maryland Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team, which assisted in rescue operations.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan authorized deployment of the team, which included two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters with eight crew members, and three maintenance technicians, according to a news release from Hogan’s office.