Indiana Task Force 1 back home after helping in Kentucky tornado aftermath
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Members of Indiana Task Force 1 are home after aiding search-and-rescue efforts in areas of Kentucky hit by the tornadoes.
The team of at least 45 members arrived at their headquarters, took their bags, and one by one returned their radios, chest straps, and other items.
“The teamwork that was displayed by our team and everybody else that was down there was phenomenal,” said Kevin Jones, the special operations chief of the Indianapolis Fire Department.
In Mayfield, Kentucky, the group was at that candle factory destroyed by the storm cut steal and used cranes to search for anyone who had been unaccounted for. Jones says it was challenge.
“It’s the opportunity to put some of our training to use to go out there and try to make a difference for the locals and the people that are affected by these tragedies,” Jones said.
Tom Neal, the leader of Indiana Task Force 1, said, “Emotions kind of come after the fact. It’s just we’re focused on what our mission is there and looking for the unaccounted for because at the end of the day we want to reunify those who are unaccounted for back to their families and their loved ones.”
The team also spent time in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, where they focused on wide-area searches.
“You don’t see parts of the roof and things that you should see. They’re nowhere to be found. Where are they at? So, just the appreciation of the force of nature,” Jones said.
The task force says they’re just happy to help.
“Normally in an emergency response it starts local and ends local, and it’s neighbor helping neighbor, and, in this instance, it’s us, the state of Indiana, helping our neighbors in the state of Kentucky,” Neal said.