Multiple Central Kentucky first responders are helping with tornado recovery efforts
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Kentucky tornadoes: Victims, searches, response
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Many have said the recovery and cleanup process for the damage left behind by the Kentucky tornadoes will require all hands on deck, and first responders in Central Kentucky are heading to affected area to help.
Corey Lewis, the Vice Chair for the Bluegrass Emergency Response Team (BERT), said around 25-30 individuals with the Lexington Fire Department, Winchester Fire Department, Jessamine County Fire Department, Madison County Emergency Management and Woodford County Emergency Management are all in Graves County assisting with search & rescue efforts and incident management needs. He said they’ve been there since Saturday afternoon and would be there for as long as they’re needed.
“It really depends upon the additional needs of resources down there,” Lewis said. “I feel like probably our incident management skills will come into play a little bit more. We’ll probably be providing that for the foreseeable future into the next week or so.”
WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s news reporting partner, said 17 Lexington firefighters are in western Kentucky.
BERT is an organization made up of 10 counties in central Kentucky that provides mutual aid for various emergency situations. It’s made up of first responding agencies that mostly focuses on central Kentucky incidents, but will occasionally branch out farther inside Kentucky when needed.
BERT also has three trailers filled with natural disaster response equipment.
Lewis said BERT assistance was requested on Saturday morning once the severity of the damage done by the tornadoes was revealed. Later that afternoon, an urban search & rescue team and incident management team was in Graves County helping those directly impacted by the twisters.
Lewis projects the search & rescue team will likely be on its way home soon when the mission switches to damage assessment and recovery.
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 5:08 PM.
