Van Wade
The Orange Leader
September 17, 2008 01:25 pm
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ORANGE - When all the dust and muck is settled, citizens of Orange County can look back with appreciation for all the out-of-town folks that came to the rescue of their tight-knit community.
People from all over the country are in Southeast Texas to bring aid and support to the area after the devastation of Hurricane Ike.
They’re here not to be patted on the back butto lend support in anyway possible and they’ve done an amazing job.
Several strategic centers are in operation across the county with Little Cypress-Mauriceville being home base to many.
Those placed there Wednesday were the Texas A&M Forest Service, Williamson County Emergency Communications and Suncoast Resources along with several fire & rescue teams from several counties across the state.
“We’re here to help the people of Southeast Texas anyway that we can,” said Bob Koenig, of the A&M Forest Service. “Folks here have been so gracious to us despite a lot of them losing their homes in low-lying areas. We’re doing everything that we possibly can to get those trees away from their homes and to get those trees off those power lines.”
Koenig and the Forest Service brought a large arsenal to the Southeast Texas region.
“We’ve brought in employees from all over the state, from San Marcos to the Rio Grande region,” Koenig said. “They’ve been working around the clock to remove the debris. Our first objective was to get all the big debris off the major roads and highways so emergency management teams could get through because we didn’t want to have any of those main arteries clogged. It’s really worked out well thus far.”
Sean Piersol, from Houston, was working hard for Suncoast Resources, a gas company that is providing gas for all of the emergency teams such as the local fire departments, police departments and state highway patrol units that are so swamped at this time.
Gas trucks have been steadily pouring into LC-M High School to fill up gas tanks so Suncoast can distribute them to all emergency personnel vehicles.
“On Tuesday, we distributed a little bit over 5,000 gallons to emergency responders,” said Piersol. “We’re constantly getting a steady flow of trucks in here. We’re at the emergency management’s beckoned call. Those men and women, Orange County has to be so proud of them. They come in here looking exhausted but they get right ‘back on their horse’ so to speak, and go right back out to help people.”
Joe Johnston of San Marcos Fire and Rescue is glad that he and his team can do anything possible to help.
“We were here for Rita and now for Ike and they’re completely opposite of each other,” said Johnston. “Rita’s winds were so devastating. Ike, though, has been another monster. The storm surge was really, really bad. The low-lying areas of Bridge City and Orange really took a major hit. We’ve seen a lot of tough things. It’s really rough to see so many people gutting out their homes and taking what they can. One of the amazing things is to see the resilience of people. Sure, they’re down right now but they’re all side-by-side, helping anyone they possibly can even when many of them have lost most of their belongings.”
Piersol feels Ike has been a storm like no other.
“Ike has been a monster,” Piersol said. “People have been effected from the Texas coast all the way up to Ohio. Heck, from what we understand, more than 20,000 people in the Buffalo, New York area is without power due to Ike. Houston got hit pretty hard and then you think of those poor folks in Galveston and Bolivar Penisuala. I heard power was out all the way up to the Longview area and Arkansas and all the way to the East Coast. It’s a storm people will be talking about for a long time and hopefully we won’t have another one like it.”
Close to 15,000 electric company employers are in the area to get power up as soon as possible.
“A lot of people are working hard and putting themselves in danger working on damaged lines and circuits,” said Koenig. “I know people are concerned about when they get that power. Believe me, I would certainly feel the same way. Everyone should know that those guys are working as diligently as they can but the top priority is being safe about it.”
What makes Piersol gleam the most are the smiles on Orange County people that he meets.
“We’re making a lot of new friends down here,” Piersol said. “None of us are here to get the big slap on the back. We’re here to help people that need it the most. Orange County has been so supportive of our help and we appreciate that. I can say, without any apprehension, that if the same things happened further north up the state where we’re from, Orange County folks would be right their in the mix helping all of us out. That’s what being a Texan is all about.”
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