It was a memorable but exhausting week for the four Plant City Police Department (PCPD) officers that travelled to North Port along with 42 Tampa Police officers and two Tampa International Airport officers to assist with hurricane relief efforts in some of the state’s hardest hit areas.
PCPD Sergeant Paul Tester and Officers Justin Castro, Vincent Wise and Samuel Shireling, all members of PCPD’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), returned home safely Friday afternoon for some much-needed rest and recovery.
In addition to assisting the local agencies with daily patrol functions, the officers were hard at work assisting with clearing trees and debris, reseating signs, tarping damaged roofs and sorting through damaged household items for salvageable property.
Tester, who is also CIRT team leader, said driving through neighborhoods and seeing the entire contents of peoples’ homes piled near the street was particularly memorable.
“It was a reminder to me that you can have everything one day and then in an instant it can all be gone and you have to start over from scratch,” he said. “All their personal possessions, all their irreplaceable mementos are gone.”
He and his team assisted many residents with mucking houses, about as fun as the word sounds. The first step in the reconstruction process, it involves removing mud, muck and other typically semi-solid material from a home and then removing damaged construction materials, including drywall, insulation, floorboards, panelling and cabinets.
One particular muck-out involved a husband who had an art studio attached and they were trying to save as many of his art pieces as they could. “It was heart-wrenching,” said Tester.
When they first arrived, Tester said there were still homes filled with water and some roadways were submerged. “I’ve never experienced anything like that,” he said.
Luckily nobody was afraid of heights, because they also climbed onto 20 or 30 roofs, tarping the areas where shingles were torn off to prevent further water damage.
Once the word got out that they were there to help, their phones were ringing off the hook with people needing assistance.
“We always said we’ll be right there,” said Tester.
One family couldn’t get their electricity turned back on because a tree was on the electrical box. His team went out to remove the tree so electricians could restore power to the home.
The officers, who were placed in squads of 12 – 16 officers, worked 12-hour shifts, either from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. – 6 a.m.
From the damage, it’d be easy to assume they were working in coastal communities.
“We were a good 30 minutes from the beach,” he said.
In the midst of all of the difficult manual labor, Tester said volunteers were helping to sustain them. Local businesses would bring them a meal. The last day of work, volunteers with the Gary Sinise Foundation’s Serving Heroes program provided a hot meal from Mission BBQ.
It was a challenging but rewarding week for Tester and his team. Through it all, he was thankful for the training he received through the PCPD’s CIRT program.
“The training we received gave us the knowledge we needed and we were able to put that knowledge into action,” he said.
Captain Robert McLellan is proud of the officers who so readily answered the call to help their southern neighbors. “I want to commend these officers for not only helping Plant City’s citizens but also having the training necessary to help the citizens of North Port,” he said. “It just shows that Plant City, although a small community, truly does put its hand out to help others.”Plant City Police Officers Return From North Port