Last Friday the City of Jefferson was hit hard with straight line winds that caused $2 million in structural damage. As rescue and emergency crews were being deployed, one person was in charge of directing where everyone needed to go.

Greene County Emergency Management Coordinator Dennis Morlan assigned Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams as Incident Commander. Williams had to handle the immediate threats of down power lines, a semi-truck driver stuck in his vehicle with power lines dangling over and massive amounts of debris strewn everywhere. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio how he felt being placed in that unique situation to take the lead position.

“It was stressful (and) running everybody that was there with all of the fire departments and law enforcement. But everybody works as a team together, so that definitely makes it easier. Everybody worked great together and we got the job done in probably 2 ½-hours, we had everything safe and for the most part, the roads were cleared up.”

While managing all of the emergency situations, Williams points out he also had the storm sirens activated in Jefferson.

“I ask that the sirens be activated for Jefferson. Just in case, as fast as this storm had come up, I wanted everybody to be aware that it could happen again and very quickly just like the last one. In being that everybody was out on the north side of Jefferson it was just, in my opinion, safer to have everyone on alert.”

Williams appreciates everyone’s help from the sheriff’s office; to the Jefferson Police Department; the Paton, Churdan, Grand Junction and Jefferson Fire departments; to Greene County Emergency Medical Services; Red Cross and other City of Jefferson crews that worked together to keep everyone safe.