A simulated tornado touching down in the Waycross-Ware County Industrial Park on April 26th tested Waycross and Ware County’s emergency response personnel. The simulated tornado caused damage, injuries and a small hazardous material spill. The call came in to 9-1-1 at approximately 9:15 a.m. from GA BioMass and responding were the Ware County Emergency Medical Service (EMS), Ware County Fire Rescue, Ware County Sheriff’s Department, Air Evac 90, Ware County Emergency Management Agency and Waycross Fire Rescue.
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Upon arrival of the scene there were nine injured victims with three major injuries Also there was a hazardous material spill and a victim trapped 90 feet in the air on a tower. The Emergency Medical Service Supervisor Steve Kiser immediately triaged (sorted the victims to the severity of their injuries). Ware County EMS begins immediate life saving treatment and transport of the victims. Ware County Fire Captain Joe McPhaul assigned his personnel to different tasks which included hazardous materials containment, decontamination, and high rise rescue. Ware County EMA Director Jonathan Daniell arrived shortly on scene after the call was dispatched and took over incident command. As the event unfolded Heartland EMS, South GA Ambulance, Ware County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the Red Cross and Satilla Medical Reserve Corps assisted in the exercise.
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My hat goes off to all the public safety personnel that responded to the disaster exercise said Ware County EMS Training Coordinator Perry Blackburn. I would like to say a special thank you to Mayo Clinic Health System in Waycross Safety & Emergency Preparedness Manager Tony Walsh, Ware County EMS Interim Director Bill Parham, Air Evac 90 Greg Dampier, the Air Evac 90 crew, Okefenokee Technical College nursing instructor Lori Henderson, Georgia BioMass Safety Coordinator Mike Crews, Georgia Power Safety Coordinator Ben McQuaig, the Okefenokee Technical College nursing students and Robbie Parham that were victims, Ware County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Keen, Ware County Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Jessie Jordan, Ware County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief David Thrift, Sheriff Randy Royal, 9-1-1 Director Fay Cooper, Ware County EMA Director Jonathan Daniell and Waycross Fire Rescue Chief David Eddins. Thursday April 26, 2012 proved that whatever the disaster is the fine Ware County-Waycross Public Safety responders had the situation under control. The next time that you see any of the public safety services listed above please take a minute and thank them for all that they do.
05-06-12
14:00 hrs