Iola fireman Gary Kimball showed pictures of the tornado that destroyed a third of Joplin on May 22 to Iola Rotarians Thursday and told of being part of the search and rescue teams that flocked into the Missouri city to help victims.
Kimball said four Iola firemen who are part of an area task force spent 20 hours at the site. They took an Allen County ambulance with them. He said about 25 members of the task force, which is trained to respond to disasters, worked at Joplin and said “maybe 65 percent of the fire departments and other first responders in Southeast Kansas had sent trained officers to provide help in one way or another.
“The Midwest is known for that,” he said. “Whenever there is a disaster, there is never a shortage of trained officers at the scene.”
He said the Iola contingent was able to get to Joplin less than six hours after the tornado struck.
Kimball had a slide show in progress throughout his talk. The pictures were taken by members of the Iola firefighters and illustrated the devastation.
He was introduced by vice-president Fred Heismeyer.
Iola firemen respond to tornado
