May 20--A search and rescue task force from Woodward County was deployed to help assist with the response to the devastating tornado that ripped through Moore and south Oklahoma City Monday afternoon.
Matt Lehenbauer, director of the Woodward County Office of Emergency Management, said that the task force includes vehicles and personnel "from all 5 Woodward County fire departments, including Woodward, Fort Supply, Sharon, Mutual and Mooreland."
He said that 1 to 2 vehicles will be sent from each department, with "at least probably 8 trucks total." Those vehicles will be manned by "probably 2 firefighters per truck at a minimum," he said.
"We're taking everything we can spare as far as rescue equipment," Lehenbauer said.
"Search and rescue will be our mission," he said, noting that the firefighters from Woodward County will be helping to search through ruble for victims of the storm.
"There's just a shortage of first responders in a situation like this where schools have been hit and children are trapped and homes have been leveled," he said.
One of the first units to respond was "one of the firefighters in Mutual (whose) daughter's house was destroyed" as part of the storm, Lehenbauer said.
He said the other fire departments would dispatch their units once they had assembled their respective response crews.
The emergency manager said Woodward County's search and rescue task force units would stay and help with response efforts "as long as we're needed."
In addition to the search and rescue teams, Lehenbauer said that the Woodward County Office of Emergency Management will also be responding to the scene.
"As emergency management, we will respond to the state EOC (Emergency Operations Center) to help with the logistics," he said.
Copyright 2013 - The Woodward News, Okla.
