PRAIRIE GROVE -- The top two officers for Prairie Grove Police Department headed out last week to spend about three days helping those suffering from Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area.
Police Chief Chris Workman and Capt. Jeff O'Brien returned early Friday in time to help with the Clothesline Fair but say plans are to make a return trip or send other officers to help in the future.
Police Chief Chris Workman and Capt. Jeff O'Brien put out the message on Facebook last Tuesday they were headed to Texas and asked the community to donate supplies that could be handed out to hurricane victims. Within a short time, the police department had to change its message, telling people to call before bringing anything because they were running out of space.
Amber Stucki of Prairie Grove saw the Facebook message and showed up with several items to donate to hurricane victims.
"I'm proud of these guys," Stucki said as she handed her donations to O'Brien. "This makes me proud to be from Prairie Grove. If we can't go, we can send our finest there."
Workman, O'Brien and other officers loaded up the department's Emergency Response Vehicle with water, sports drinks, diapers, toilet paper, snack food, blankets, dog and cat food and canned items. The vehicle pulled a trailer with a utility terrain vehicle to use to help the devastated area.
"I've been sitting on this idea for a couple of days," Workman said. "Things are getting worse."
Workman said the plan was to help some of those in the smaller communities around Houston.
"Houston is getting all the attention," Workman said. "We know some of the smaller cities do not have the resources to help their residents."
The department's emergency response truck and utility terrain vehicle are equipment obtained through the federal 1033 Program, a program that allows law enforcement agencies to apply to receive excess supplies and equipment from the U.S Department of Defense. The emergency vehicle is also equipped with medical supplies and other items, such as thermal blankets, hydration supplies and tents and sleeping bags that came through the 1033 program.
"The whole point of this stuff is to be able to help others," Workman said. "This helps us too because if an emergency happens here, this is providing training to respond to that."
Another group headed to Texas last week was Washington County's Urban, Search and Rescue team. This team has firefighters from Washington County, Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.
John Luther, director of Washington County Emergency Management, said 18 people were headed to Texas to a staging area in San Antonio. From there, they would get their mission and assignment in the field. The team is part of Arkansas Task Force 1 and can be deployed up to 14 days and possibly longer, Luther said.
He said he thought the firefighters most likely would be involved in search and rescue. Their equipment included 6 vehicles and four boats, with overhead staff. They planned to meet up with another team from central Arkansas with 19 people.
"We've been coordinating this for about a week now and planning it," Luther said. "We know that people have gone earlier but we waited until we had a formal request (for assistance) from the state of Texas to the state of Arkansas."
The group is self-sufficient, Luther said, and would use its specialized training to help others.
The team has been involved in many emergency situations, including the tornado in Joplin, Mo., but Luther said he expected the devastation in Texas would be the worst the group has encountered.
General News on 09/06/2017