Carbon County Volunteers Worked Around The Clock Rescuing People In Latest Arctic Storm
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By Wendy Corr, Cowboy State Daily
Mike Lujan said he’s lived in Carbon County all his life and has never seen a storm like this one.
“I’m old,” Lujan laughed. “I listen to ’70s rock ‘n’ roll, okay? And I don’t know if it’s the worst, but it’s as bad as I can remember.”
It was so bad, said the Rawlins Search and Rescue volunteer, that even the emergency services vehicles had to be rescued.
“We had sheriff’s deputies who were off the street, so we helped them out,” Lujan told Cowboy State Daily. “And we had an ambulance that got stuck, so we had to get the ambulance.”
According to Lujan, the snowdrifts were otherworldly.
“We’ve battled six-foot drifts across the interstate, and I’m not exaggerating,” he said. “It took us probably four hours to cover 15 miles.”
A team effort
Lujan and his associates were among dozens of people working around the clock to restore power to remote communities and rescue workers stranded in the oil fields. He and his associates even helped the senior center get meals for at-risk adults.
“Our members helped with the little things that were really big things,” Lujan said. “The Meals on Wheels for the seniors, we had to help bring meals to these people and we were taking the hospital staff back and forth to work. All those little things make up a big part of the puzzle.”
On his official Facebook page, Sheriff Alex Bakken commended the various agencies that responded to the emergency.
“Carbon County really came together last night in the face of an undeniably catastrophic extreme weather event,” Bakken wrote Thursday. “Crews from numerous agencies worked through the night and well into the morning to ensure all critical rescue operations were completed and everyone returned home safely.”
From rescuing stranded workers at the oil field south of Creston Junction to helping residents without heat and electricity – personnel from Carbon County Road and Bridge, Wyoming Highway Patrol, Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT), Baggs Fire Rescue, Valley Search and Rescue , Classic Air, Rawlins Search and Rescue, Carbon County Emergency Management and Sheriff’s Office staff were busy Tuesday morning through Friday.
Lujan had nothing but admiration for the leadership organizing the emergency response.
“When you see the police chief helping motorists all day and you have a newly elected sheriff who had to go to work on a snowmobile, that speaks volumes,” he said. “I mean he lives out of town and had to drive into town on a snow machine to get to work and help out.”
Hagglund Transport
One tool that allowed residents of the tiny town of Bairoil to restore power was a machine recently acquired by Carbon County — the Hagglund is a road workhorse capable of cruising at near road speeds in snowy conditions.
Carbon County Emergency Manager Lenny Layman said the vehicle was delivered to Carbon County just a few weeks ago – perfect timing to be useful in this dangerous storm.
“It’s a two-unit tracked vehicle that articulates — it’s like a snowcat, but it can go at highway speeds and can do both on- and off-road driving,” Layman told Cowboy State Daily. “And it’s amphibious, too.”
Layman said the vehicle cost the county about $180,000, but he believes every dollar was worth it.
“We took it over late last year and it’s got over 80 hours on it now,” he said. “It was our primary tool used for search and rescue.”
But one Hagglund wasn’t enough to cover the entire county during that storm — Layman said an additional Hagglund was loaned to the Laramie County County for rescue operations near Hanna while Carbon County tied up in Bairoil and Muddy Gap was.
Neighbors help neighbors
Lujan said he was inspired by the number of people he’d seen helping their neighbors.
“[I saw]people in their private vehicles pulling out other vehicles and helping their neighbors shovel their snow and shovel their walks,” Lujan said, “so those little ladies, thank goodness, can get out.” when we serve them.”
Lujan described how he and his comrades rescued an elderly woman from her RV at one of the campsites.
“We physically carried a sweet little 94-year-old lady in our arms to our tracked vehicle and took her to a hotel because she had no food or warmth,” Lujan said.
Layman said the residents’ cooperation helped reduce the number of rescues that could have further clogged the county’s resources.
“We created a travel advisory for Carbon County, we asked for unnecessary travel, and I think that helped,” he said. “Most of our residents have honored that.”
Layman also made the recommendation that county commissioners declare a state of emergency, which could allow resources to flow from the state to the county.
“It was a tremendous collaboration between the county commissioners, the county clerk, and myself at Homeland Security,” he said.
Sheriff Bakken pointed out that without the cooperation of local residents and emergency responders, the aftermath of the storm could have been far worse.
“We want to thank each and every one of you who stood up and came together last night to help the people of Carbon County,” he wrote in his Facebook post. “Without your teamwork, yesterday’s events could easily have ended with tragic results.”
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