Robertson County Sends Ambulance to Flood-Ravaged Unicoi County
ROBERTSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE: (Smokey Barn News) – At 10:15 AM, Monday morning Robertson County EMS Director/Chief Brent Dyer spoke with Anthony Buckner, EMS Chief in Unicoi County (Erwin, TN). This is the area of East Tennessee that was so acutely affected by the flood disaster. Unicoi County lost 3 of their ambulances at one time, crippling their EMS operations and vital community infrastructure. Chief Buckner of Unicoi County EMS reported that he currently has an EMS Strike Team on the ground there assisting with EMS calls, however, he is not sure how long those mutual aid resources will be able to stay and help. Chief Buckner said that his people had “been through a lot” in recent days. We cannot imagine what that community is suffering through and wanted to do something from Robertson County to help them in a big way.
In an early morning meeting with Robertson County Mayor Billy Vogle and with the blessing of EMS Committee Chairlady Fay Stubblefield, a decision has been made to send a spare ambulance to Unicoi County. In the last two years, Robertson County EMS has been blessed with updating the ambulance fleet in our own County. Through the support of our County Commission and Mayor, Robertson County just added 3 new F450 diesel four-wheel drive ambulances to the fleet in the past few months. Just weeks ago, the latest new ambulance arrived in Robertson County and will be assigned to the Coopertown EMS Station. The other two new units that arrived just months ago were assigned to Ridgetop/Greenbrier and the other in Cross Plains.
With the flooding disaster in East Tennessee, our hearts go out to the people affected. Losing vital community resources such as ambulances and emergency vehicles keeps people at risk who are already in a disaster situation. Robertson County will send this ambulance to Unicoi County to be used to help serve and protect the good people there in a time of their greatest need. We are blessed to be in a position where we can help others and still have adequate resources on hand to take care of our own people here. We hope Robertson County will never be in a situation in which we are on the receiving end of something like this.
“We are thankful to have a Mayor and Commissioners who work to support our operation for the people of Robertson County, and who are willing to lend a hand to our fellow Tennesseans in the eastern part of the State,” said Robertson County EMS Director Brent Dyer. “The service department staff at Tracy Langston Ford has taken the older spare unit into their shop to give it a quick service and check everything to make sure it is ready to put in some hard work ahead. We appreciate the service manager, Brent, who has assisted in this endeavor.”
Robertson County EMS will partner with Robertson County Emergency Management to deliver the unit and other equipment that will assist in emergency services operations in Unicoi County. This is something Robertson County as an entire community can do to bless others in such a time of need.
