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Jessamine County firefighters respond to West Liberty disaster

March 07, 2012|By Mike Moore | mmoore@jessaminejournal.com
(Page 2 of 2)

Adams praised the efforts of B.E.R.T. and the Jessamine County firefighters who arrived the night before.

“What they were doing all throughout the night, searching and trying to find people trapped, their efforts were tenfold more than what we were doing,” he said.

B.E.R.T. training

Rupard said Jessamine County has been a member of B.E.R.T. since 1995, and this was the first major natural disaster it has worked.

“We have worked some small stuff, but nothing ever to the magnitude of a whole town,” Rupard said. “By being there, you really just had to take it in and ask, ‘Where do you start?’ As soon as you pulled into town, you really could just start working right then.

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“We had 20 hours of solid work time and four hours of travel. Once we stepped out of the truck, we didn’t stop until we left.”

Adams said no training could prepare firefighters for what they saw in West Liberty.

“We saw things that you cannot mock up,” he said. “There is no training that you can go through to prepare us for what we saw down there. And it’s something I really hope we never have to do again, but if we do, hopefully we will be better prepared.”

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