News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Jackson County EMS and 911 was forced to evacuate their facility due to flooding.
Jackson County EMA spokesperson Derek Woolbright said crews started monitoring flooding near the facility, but water made its way in at about 2:00 AM Sunday. Woolbright said 911 communications were able to stay in operation thanks to Putnam County and Upper Cumberland Homeland Security.
“There’s a saying in emergency services, one is none and two is one,” Woolbright said. “So we try to be redundant in everything we have and have a backup for each and every service that we provide to people. So it was very important to have available and from what I’ve been briefed on it seems like they all fell into place like they should have.”
Woolbright said 911 communications were rolled over to Putnam county while operations were established in the UC Homeland Security Mobile 911 trailer.
“There were several inches of water inside the building at one point,” Woolbright said. “The crews went ahead and evacuated their equipment and 911 dispatchers also evacuated.”
He said it is too early to say if any equipment was lost of permanently damaged by the flooding. However, Woolbright said there will be a need for extensive cleanup.
“The water has receded, there’s been a third party that’s been contacted,” Woolbright said. “They’ll be coming in that deals with that kind of thing on a regular basis. They’ll be coming in to handle the cleanup because there’s probably a half inch of mud in the building.”
Woolbright said that crews began to notice and become concerned with the flooding around the building at about 1:00 AM. Jackson County EMS crews have been stationed in two different locations in the county that are not flooded on Sunday.
