Knox County EMA Coordinator Reflects on Emergency Preparedness after Cameron Tornado

IMG_1556Numerous agencies responded to the devastating tornado that struck the town of Cameron.Knox County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Tom Simkins says he stayed in Knox County during the storm to watch our area, but went out to the Warren County town after the storm passed.

Simkins tells WGIL that he felt at the time that although the Cameron Fire Department is good, they could use help managing all the emergency personnel that responded.

“At some point they asked for our Unified Command Vehicle, which is the big white bus, as we like to call it,” says Simkins. “At that point I decided ‘maybe I would go over there with our Situation Unit Leader Jim Cueno’, knowing that Cameron’s a little town and they’re probably not used to a lot of fire trucks and such ascending on them and so they might need some help, even though they have a good Fire Department over there, might need some help with managing the emergency.”

Simkins says they receive grants for holding drills on emergency preparedness so to an extent they had training to handle the situation.

Simkins says that when first arriving to the scene, emergency personnel are basically acting on their training until given further instruction.

Galesburg Police, Galesburg Fire Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Deputies and Galesburg Hospital Ambulance Service were just a few of the agencies who responded to the disaster.

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