Howard County Firefighter Helped During N.C. Tornadoes
COLUMBIA, Md. (WJZ) -- What started out as a routine training seminar for first responders became the real thing when a tornado ripped through a North Carolina town.
Alex DeMetrick reports a handful of Marylanders found themselves out of class and into a disaster.
Captain Michael Sharpe left his Howard County firehouse for a weekend of rescue training in North Carolina. The classes covered a lot.
"People trapped under tractor trailers, dump trucks, cement trucks and rail cars," said Sharpe.
But class ended when a tornado hit down the road, turning a Lowe's store into rubble.
"There was debris scattered about the parking lot and a wooded area around the building. The buildings across the street, the roofing was torn off," said Sharpe.
Damage was so extensive and widespread, local first responders were stretched. Sharpe and five members of Montgomery County's Fire Rescue Service volunteered.
The Marylanders brought the kind of expertise that was needed most.
"To check areas that were collapsed for potential victims. To identify the highest probability locations of where they might be, and then start to shore up those free hanging sections of wall so we could work under it," said Sharpe.
It's exactly the sort of work departments from around the state train for. An elaborate reproduction of rescue situations at Baltimore's Fire Academy provided realistic situations for Sharpe and others who specialize in finding people trapped in tight, dangerous spaces.
Reports that four people were missing inside the Lowe's brought in the Maryland rescuers. Fortunately, the search did not turn up any casualties.
