Great Turnout of Local Emergency Service Personnel to Taylorville Saturday Night

It was all hands on deck Saturday night after a tornado struck Taylorville.

MABAS 54, the mutual aid agency that organizes response when a community is in need, was contacted by Taylorville Fire Department with a request for resources and equipment following the twister, which struck Taylorville about 5:30pm.

Equipment and personnel from this area headed for Taylorville an hour later and reached the hard-hit community at 7:40pm. Agencies and what they provided: Effingham--engine, EMA vehicle, assistant chief...Shumway--engine, battalion chief...Teutopolis--squad...Altamont--engine...Watson--brush truck, light tower...Tri-County from Beecher City--brush truck, ATV...Stewardson--engine, chief...Abbott EMS--ambulance. A total of 31 people responded to Taylorville.

Effingham Assistant Fire Chief Matt Kulesza said the local respondents were assigned to some of six zones; Kulesza to Task Force 5, Shumway Battalion Chief Johnathon Paholke to Task Force 6, Stewardson Fire Chief Troy Agney to Task Force 4, and Effingham City EMA Director Kim Tegeler to the Emergency Operations Center. Each task force was equipped with two engines, a chief, an ambulance and a police officer.

Kulesza said the Task Forces conducted searches of homes and businesses throughout the zoned areas, maintained gas shutoffs, marked downed power lines and transformers, and marked buildings that were damaged and not structurally sound. Ambulance personnel also kept the medical devices of individuals active due to a lack of electricity.

The local respondents were released and allowed to return home at 12:20 Sunday morning.