Tonight the South Sumter group met together at the Ward Fire house to enjoy  spending time with each other, games and of course  – food!! So many times those that respond to the calls for help see each other on scene, at training sessions and during meetings, but the families rarely have the time spend just enjoying each other’s company. Hopefully, we will be able to have more of these times of fellowship where we can enjoy some friendly competition, share some laughs and watch our children grow. After all, we are working on the next generation of first responders/firefighters! Thank you to everyone who came, brought food, helped with set up and clean up!

South Sumter departments – Cuba, Siloam, Ward, Whitfield, Kinterbish and Morning Star along with Pennington VFD participated in a tanker training session in the Whitfield community. The departments learned how to  work with drop tanks, connect to dry hydrants and transport the water to other tankers in order to use it on scene. This is especially important in areas where conventional water supply is unavailable or compromised. Today’s training is useful when multiple departments are needed to respond to the call at hand. In emergency situations where this type of response is needed, time is of the essence. This drill proved that large quantities of water can be moved quickly and further practices will only increase our efficiency of response time.

We hope that you and yours have a safe Christmas holiday.  However, if you need us don’t hesitate to call.  We already have our Christmas lights on!

This video is provided by the Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Department. It seems that moving over for the fire and EMS service has gone away because those guys can’t write you tickets. Always move to the right for sirens and lights because seconds count!

Thanks to Parke and Brenda for bringing attention to this video and for Captain Brooke’s calling my attention to it as well.

Area radars continue to show a large shield of precipitation that is moving North into the area.  The NWS Birmingham has added a few things to the forecast for this event.  The most notable change is the mention of potentially higher amounts of ice in the US 80 corridor.  Further, notice the NWS Jackson has likewise revised their forecast to reflect higher amounts.  This is a dangerous system and we need to be vigilant as the evening goes on.  Last but not least…  To add insult to injury the winds will become gusty this evening and cause trees and other objects that ha

The South Sumter area is under a threat of severe weather for the next five hours.  There have been multiple warnings and multiple reports of damage upstream from our area.  The current radar tells the story and is included below.  The area remains under a watch until 0700 Tuesday morning.

The NHC is watching Invest 90L north of the island of Hispaniola.  Models indicate that it might cause a little trouble for the southeastern Atlantic coast, but intensity models are rather unimpressive.  The system will likely never gain enough intensity to be classified as any type of system, but it is gaining the attention of forecasters due to the timing and nature of the event.  Hurricane season is just a few days away and could be quite active this year.  Let’s make sure that we are ready to take care of anything that comes up because of these storms.