STAR CITY, W.Va. — Local first responders are in the Carolinas to assist in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.
An EMS crew from Star City made the trip to Columbia, South Carolina where it has spent the last several days staging at the University of South Carolina, preparing for the hurricane’s arrival.
“One ambulance, ALS equipped (Advance Life Support), my Assistant Chief of EMS is Jarod Lamb and one of our EMT’s Daniel Len,” said Star City Volunteer Fire Department EMS Administrator John Hitchens describing who and what will be going down to South Carolina.
This is not the first time the Star City VFD has contributed to emergency aid in the event of natural disasters. Last year, several members traveled south to Georgia and Florida to aid in emergency efforts for both Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael, the latter being the first category 5 hurricane to hit the United States in over 20 years.
Now, members of the Star City VFD will be on standby as emergency responders await for the storm that’s expected to drop up to 10 inches of rain when it reaches landfall.
“Everything now is in preparation of the storm, performing evacuations of hospitals and nursing homes and moving patients that otherwise would not be able to evacuate themselves,” said Hitchens on WAJR’s Talk of the Town. “But they potentially wait until those requests come in from the state, where the state itself indicates that they have that need for additional resources,” he said.
“It’s very humbling to see that type of devastation and to see how the people in that community rally around each other and other responders across the country,” said Hitchens. “We don’t always know who they are, but we instantly form that bond and be able to go in and complete our mission and take care of those people,”
While people living in the Bahamas were very unlucky in regards to the impact of Hurricane Dorian, it appears as though the worst of the storm will be left behind when the storm officially reaches the US. The 120 miles per hour winds have dropped over 50 mph in speed since making it’s way up the east coast.
Even with the storm decreasing in intensity, the relentlessness of thousands of EMS and volunteer fireman across the country is not showing what Hitchens says is a open call to serve no matter where.
“Anywhere in the nation, if they need us, that’s where we’re going to be,” he said. “It is easy to step back and say it’s not our problem and they can deal with it themselves, but, there’s literally thousands and thousands of ambulance personnel from across the country descending on the East Coast right now that would say otherwise,” he said.