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Home  Outdoors Hurricanes and Storms Hurricane Katrina FWC Officers Escort Fuel Trucks for Mississippi Hospital Generators
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09-13-2005 |
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FWC OFFICERS ESCORT FUEL TRUCKS FOR MISSISSIPPI HOSPITAL GENERATORS
September 13, 2005
With blue lights flashing and sirens blowing, Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) law enforcement officers got the tanker
truck through another intersection with no working lights in Biloxi,
Miss.
FWC officers Billy Giles, from Perry, and Kevin Larson, from
Jacksonville, helped Jimmy VanBoskerck, a tanker driver with Starling
Fuel Service in Jacksonville, maneuver through traffic to the Memorial
Hospital in Biloxi.
“We’re running fuel to the hospital generators so they can keep running. Their power isn’t back on yet,” Giles said.
The two FWC officers had escorted the tanker to Meridian, Miss. that
morning to pick up a load of diesel and gasoline. When the truck
arrived at the hospital, Michael Zieman, hospital administrator, was
glad to see it.
“We were crossing our fingers today,” Zieman said. “We were down
to 100 gallons, so we are happy to see you all. The hospital
generators burn about 225 gallons an hour. Thanks for coming to
help. We sure appreciate it.”
The next stop was Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, Miss. Sonny
Freeman, hospital construction craftsman, was on site when the tanker
rolled up. Freeman, who had lost his house during Katrina, was
living at the hospital.
Although the hospital had just been refueled by another truck, Freeman
thanked the officers and driver for stopping by to check on the
hospital’s situation.
“It sure helps to know that people are making sure we stay up and
running,” Freeman said. “We are running our generators
continuously since the power keeps coming on and off.”
According to Lt. Jeff Hudson, patrol supervisor from the Titusville
Field Office, the FWC escorts ensure that the tanker truck gets to its
destination and returns to the command post compound safely.
“Several FWC officers have been ‘chasing fuel’ all over Mississippi,”
Hudson said. "We locate depots that have fuel and then escort the
tanker truck to get a load. Then two officers (one in front and
one in back of the truck) escort the tanker to its destination to make
the fuel drops. Officers Kevin Hansen and Herb Fererking have
been escorting the trucks to four area hospitals to keep them powered
up and running,” Hudson said.
“Officer Hansen found fuel all over Mississippi. He’s traveled to
the Meridian Naval Air Station, Camp Shelby and several other
depots. In addition to the hospitals, FWC has also delivered fuel
to the county maintenance building in Purvis, Miss., and an assisted
living facility that was within two hours of running completely out of
diesel for their generators,” Hudson said.
According to Dave Walker, the “fuel boss” who works for B-Line Carriers
out of Brooksville, Fla., “We’re providing support to everyone who is
headed out for this operation. We had 100 vehicles from Indiana
roll in Monday. They were state troopers, conservation officers
and fire-and-rescue units. We made sure that they had the fuel
they needed to make their destination.
“One of the trucks we have here can pump from truck to truck, from
truck to tank, from tank to tank or from ground to truck. We also
have a small tank wagon with a 150-foot hose. This is what we’ve
been using to refuel the 85-foot FWC vessel `JJ Brown,’” Walker said as
he gassed up FWC vehicles for their redeployment back to Florida.
The FWC contingent leaving Tuesday was part of the first group of officers to deploy to storm-ravaged Biloxi Aug. 29.
“I hate to see these guys leave,” Walker said. “I just about got them
all trained. But I am appreciative of all the support the FWC
officers are providing to us. It makes the job easier.”
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