A Greenwood firefighter is going door to door in Jackson County, Fla., checking on residents who decided to stay or have returned home after a catastrophic hurricane slammed the panhandle last week.
Rob Stecher is a member of Indiana Task Force One, which was deployed to Florida on Oct. 9 ahead of the Category 4 storm which damaged several homes, tore through trees and power lines, leveled Mexico Beach and killed at least 29 people.
Stecher is one of 17 Indiana task force members who were deployed to the panhandle to help as Hurricane Michael made landfall last week. Initially, they anticipated flooding. Stecher, who is a trained rescue specialist, also trained to be a boat operator before he left so he could help assist in flooded areas.
They never anticipated the level of destruction they saw when they arrived, he said.
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"By the time we got down here, flooding wasn’t the issue. It was obviously a lot of structural damage," Stecher said.
"From everybody I’ve talked to, this is the most damage they’ve ever seen."
The crew has moved from Panama City, to Jackson County, and is expecting a move to Mexico Beach in the next day or two, he said Tuesday morning. There is no word yet on when they’ll be home.
In all of those areas, urban and rural, their primary responsibility has been going door-to-door to make sure residents who are home are safe and have what they need. By doing that, they are also clearing a path for those people to get out.Â
They’ve spent a lot of time clearing debris from roadways, Stecher said.
"In neighborhoods, we’re truly walking door-to-door. In rural areas, like where we’re at now, we drive from house to house. We drive a little, cut trees out of the way, drive a little more, cut some more trees out of the way. We’re making a path to those houses to knock on the door and see if (anyone is) home. Obviously, if we’ve gotten to them, they’ll have a means to get out now," he said.
Stecher was just in Panama City Beach this summer on vacation, he said.
"I literally drove through the area we just worked in," he said.
"Before this, it was your typical vacation place with touristy stores and lights everywhere. Now it’s none of that. The only lights you see are firetrucks."
This is Stecher’s second trip with the task force. He’s worked for the Greenwood Fire Department for two decades.
Mike Pruitt, a volunteer with the Bargersville Community Fire Department and public information officer for Task Force One, shared photos of the destruction on Facebook.
"Absolutely one of the worst I’ve ever seen," he said in a post. "Panama City was crippled, but Mexico Beach has been paralyzed."
This is Pruitt’s 14th mission with the task force.
