Tornado shifts Howard County rescue worker’s focus from training to real life

moncler bambino saldi A quick acting Howard County fire moncler outlet online shop captain who found himself in North Carolina during a tornado did what he was moncler outlet serravalle trained to do: Grab a sledgehammer and pry bar and start searching for people trapped moncler bambino saldi under heavy wreckage. Michael Sharpe, 32, found himself at a flattened Lowe’s Home Improvement store after a twister ripped through the town. It was a Saturday, and it was possible that customers or workers could be found under the a mound of collapsed steel, roofing members and moncler outlet online uomo cinderblock walls. moncler bambino saldi

moncler outlet trebaseleghe Earlier, he had been attending a class with other rescue professionals, including five members of a Montgomery County unit. They stayed inside as the tornado passed, then emerged and saw the streets filled with emergency vehicles. A few blocks away, moncler saldi the tornado moncler donna had made a direct hit on the Lowe’s. moncler outlet trebaseleghe

moncler outlet serravalle The front wall nearest the cash register aisles collapsed inward and took the roof with it; Sharpe said he feared that piumini moncler customers might be trapped as they scrambled to exit. moncler outlet serravalle

moncler outlet online uomo “We have these skills and training and wanted to help. We moncler saldi uomo had no search cameras, but we found sledgehammers and pry bars at the store and started using them,” said Sharpe, who lives in piumini moncler saldi Sykesville. moncler outlet online uomo

outlet moncler “The main entrance was our highest priority. The aisles were deep in debris. I was afraid that people would piumini moncler scontatissimi be knocked unconscious by merchandise. The force of the tornado had blown heavy objects like cans of outlet moncler paint and toolboxes projectile style.” outlet moncler

moncler saldi Sharpe said he called in a number of sales vendors who had brought specialized lifting tools and saws to the training seminar and told them to start work. For about two hours before the state search and rescue team arrived, his team of about a dozen moncler saldi outlet men searched for anyone who might not have left the store. At the end of the day, both groups moncler uomo verified that everyone was safe and that quick acting staff had hustled customers to safety. moncler saldi

moncler uomo “I’m grateful that one of our firefighters was there to lend a hand,” said Howard Fire Chief moncler outlet trebaseleghe William Goddard. moncler uomo

piumini moncler saldi Sharpe, a Howard County native, is from a family piumini moncler uomo of emergency professionals. His father is a deputy chief of operations with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue, and his brother is in the county Police Department. Sharpe belongs to a team of 140 members in seven jurisdictions who participate regionally with the Baltimore Urban Search and Rescue group. Most large cities have such teams, he said. piumini moncler saldi

moncler donna He said they regularly train for worst case scenarios: an overturned bus on Interstate 95 or a wrecked passenger rail car. They study hazardous materials situations and hold training sessions to deal with a spill or leak. They learn to run special equipment and sharpen their skills in “incident management techniques.” moncler donna

moncler saldi outlet “We come in when there is a piumini moncler outlet situation that’s outside the norm moncler bambino outlet of the fire department or the emergency service community,” Sharpe said. “It’s situations like the worker who gets his arm caught in a conveyor belt. We work in confined spaces, around hazardous materials and in excavation accidents. We even simulated the collapse of the Fort McHenry Tunnel.” moncler saldi outlet

piumini moncler uomo Sharpe said he’ll use his experience in North Carolina https://www.moncleroutlet-i.org as a lesson in future training moncler outlet online uomo scenarios. piumini moncler uomo

moncler bambino outlet “What we do is work in situations that are very high risk but are also low in frequency,” Sharpe said. “Some of this stuff is so bad you can’t even dream it could happen. It may not happen often, but moncler outlet you have to be ready when it does. You have to have the training and the tools.” moncler bambino outlet

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