Beginning Saturday morning rain bands started moving in for the massive Hurricane Irene. Crews staffed the station beginning at 10 a.m. and continued through Monday morning. Over 25 volunteers kept the apparatus on the road as the calls for service began around 12:00 on Saturday. Calls ranged from Trees Down to Medical Assist to Box Alarms.
Around 11 p.m. Saturday night, St. Mary's County Emergency Communications sounded a Code Blue Disaster and all units were to return to quarters until the eye of the storm moved north. Squad 5 and Brush 5 were still on emergency calls and took nearly an hour to return to quarters from the Budds Creek Road area. Several down trees and lines blocked most roads and other routes were utilized. Around midnight Saturday crews were able to get a few hours of much needed rest and began working again at 0400 hours.
Crews responded to about 70 incidents over the course of the storm. We hope everyone gets power restored soon and their property back to normal. Citizens can continue to check the latest Emergency Notifications at www.stmarysmd.com and the power outages at www.smeco.coop.
