SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

LAWRENCE COUNTY AGENCY RECEIVES TWO DISTINGUISHED AWARDS AT STATE CONFERENCE 

Local emergency agency and deputy director get recognized for outstanding service with pair of high profile trophies from Kentucky Emergency Agency

A local government agency, along with its deputy director, were acknowledged and rewarded with a set of top awards at a state conference last week.

The Lawrence County Emergency Agency was honored on September 10 at the Kentucky Emergency Services Conference in Louisville, by being given the award of the Emergency Operations Center of the Year for the State of Kentucky.

Also, the deputy director of the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency, Randy Hall, was awarded with the Deputy Director of the Year for the state of Kentucky.

Randy Hall is also head of the Lawrence County Search and Rescue Agency, which is connected to the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency, (and Hall is also the assistant fire chief of the Fallsburg Fire Department).

Director of the Lawrence County Emergency Agency, Michael K. Woods, released a extensive press release in which he thanked a large amount of agencies and persons in regards of their double award recognition, as well as the progress, status, and goals of the LCEM and LCSAR. In his lengthy statement, Woods stated the following:

“After taking over emergency management last year I had two main goals for the program. The first was to re-establish Lawrence Co Search and Rescue and the second was to get our Emergency Operations Center Staff to be more active and ready to assist when needed.

My first step was to find someone that had experience in emergency services and was willing to VOLUNTEER, give of themselves and put the SAR team first. I chose Randy Hall to be this Deputy EM Director and manage the SAR program.

In just over a year we were able to implement Project Lifesaver for Lawrence County, participate in several search missions within Lawrence County and assist on others in both Kentucky and West Virginia and begin working towards establishing a regional SAR team for NEKY to allow for the counties to pull their resources and work together more often.

We still have a long way to go but thanks to a team of volunteers that are always willing to put the team first we are continuing to move forward. On September 10th 2015 at the Kentucky Emergency Services Conference in Louisville, Randy Hall was awarded the Deputy Director of the year for the state of Kentucky. This was a well deserved award as he has volunteered more than 1000 hours this past year alone. I would just like to personally thank him for all the help and for everything he has done for this county.

Our goal for the Emergency Operations Center Staff has continued to move closer to achievement, but it is still not where I want it to be. However, as we found out during the winter, spring and summer storms this year we have made great progress. Our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) took several hundred calls for assistance and was able to provide assistance in one manner or another for each. Members of the EOC volunteered over 1500 hours of their time to help the citizens of Lawrence County during these storms. At the Kentucky Emergency Services Conference Lawrence County Emergency Management was awarded the Emergency Operations Center of the year for the State of Kentucky.

This achievement is not one accomplished by Lawrence County Emergency Management but was instead accomplished through hard work of several individuals and organizations. At one point the EOC was in operations for 17 straight days taking calls for assistance. I would first like to thank the individuals that worked directly in or with the EOC during these events:

Randy Hall, Nicole Peters, Alyssa Woods, Brandon Leedy, Rebecca Cardwell, Eric Stone, James Thomas, Abraham Woods, Nathan Marcum, Anthony Caudill, Aneca Rickman, Shane Rickman, Jason Evans, Josh Green, BJ Lockard, Vickie Lockard, Jackie Lockard, Sam Muncy, Paul Wells, Kristie Jobe, James Jobe, Tim Ellis, Andrew Mills, Jimmy O’Brien, Travis Hughes, Chris Cox, Bucky Tarring, Bill Hall, Mary Messer, Kayla Hayes, Sheree Butcher, Debbie Thompson, Gennifer Harvey, Brittney Thompson, Ray Dixon, Josh Dillon, Morgan Hall, Corey Cline, Mack Wilhite, Mike Griffith, Matt Harvey and others.

Many of these individuals volunteer for both emergency management and Lawrence County Search and Rescue. I just want to say how much I appreciate all the help they give me and this county. During these many events they helped provide prescriptions, dialysis and medical transports, assisted stranded motorist, performed water rescues, helped with storm damage, damage assessment, cleanup, delivered needed supplies to individuals stuck in their homes among other needed assists.

We were only able to take the calls and assist as many as we did because of the above individuals and our volunteer fire departments. Each of our volunteer departments were out during these storms doing similar assists as those mentioned above to help the citizens in their fire districts. These individuals volunteered unknown amount of hours in this process. Many times they would relay items or individuals through their fire district to or from another district or to EOC staff. Without them the response and recovery would not have been nearly as smooth as it was for our county. A special thank you to the City of Louisa Fire Dept, Lowmansville Fire Department, Fallsburg Volunteer Fire Department, Blaine Volunteer Fire Department, Cherryville Fire – Rescue, Webbville Fire Dept and Big Sandy Fire Dept for all the assistance from them and their members.

None of the above would have been possible without Lawrence County E-911 and all their hard work. These individuals helped greatly during these events as they do daily. Thank you for all you do for each of us.

I would also like to thank Judge Osborne, Mayor Slone, Lawrence County Fiscal Court and the City of Louisa for all their help during the storm events from helping to coordinate response and recovery and relaying damage reports.

The City of Louisa and Big Sandy Water districts kept us updated on their status on a regular basis so we could prepare and respond to those in need of water assistance.

I would also like to thank the City of Louisa Street Department, Lawrence County Road Department and Kentucky Transportation for all their help with clearing critical roadways needed to access and transport emergency scenes and individuals during the flood and snow events.

I appreciate all of the assistance and guidance given to us from Kentucky Emergency Management, KYEM Region 8, Ashland – Boyd County – Catlettsburg Emergency Management, Greenup County Emergency Management, Carter Co. Ky Emergency Mgt., Elliott County Emergency Management, Paintsville/Johnson County Emergency Management, Martin County Emergency Management, Pike County Emergency Management, Lewis County Emergency Management, Mason County Emergency Management, Bath County Emergency Management, Chris Hecker Regional Manager, Sherry Jenkins and David Akers.

We also received assistance from both Rough Terrain Rescue and Floyd County Emergency & Rescue Squad during our high water incidents. Many thanks to them as well.

We also received assistance from Louisa Police Department, Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, American Red Cross Serving Eastern Kentucky, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and Netcare EMS.

Lastly, I would like to thank the following that assisted us during these events:

Jennifer Ferguson, Hepzibah Baptist church from Talladega, Alabama, Tim Yates, Cub Scout Troop 152, Carey Miller, Cobra Transport, Barn Door, Jimmy Perry and Perry’s wrecker service, Lawrence County Recycling Center, Browns Food Service, Father Beitings Appalachian Mission, Girl Scouts, Louisa United Methodist Church, Farmhouse Memories, Three Rivers Home Health, Mitch Castle, Lawrence County Schools, Tim Southern, Vickie Southern, Louisa Coke Plant, Coca-Cola Refreshments Louisa, KY, David Yeager, The Levisa Lazer and Mark Grayson, everyone that helped with loading, unloading or distributing water, Boyd County Road Department.

Hopefully I haven’t failed to mention anyone but if I have know that your assistance was and is appreciated as well. This EOC award was earned by the efforts of all those mentioned above and I’m very thankful for the help provided from each.

Adding these two awards to our Most Improved Emergency Management Program award from last year means that KESC has now awarded our program with three awards in the past two years. We are not satisfied with our current status and hope to continue to grow and improve in the future.