Red River Flood 2010 - Sorrows Not in Single Spies....

Much attention in recent days and weeks has been placed on the crisis caused by rising waters in the Red River and its tributaries. Emergency crews have been responding to issues along the river, volunteers have filled over million sandbags, and work crews have built up the dikes. But just because the flood waters have captured our attention doesn’t mean that nothing else is going on. As King Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies But in battalions…”

In addition to dealing with the emergency presented by the flood waters, the Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) crew of the Salvation Army in Fargo/Moorhead has responded to 8 fires in the past 12 days.

The Salvation Army’s EDS crew is on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year, available to respond to emergency calls from Fire and Police departments as well as S.W.A.T. events, Valley Water rescue, Hazmat and Civil Air Patrol calls. Last year they responded to 148 events and in 2008 they responded to 184 events.

Steve Carbno, The Salvation Army’s Business Administrator is also the Disaster Services Coordinator and has served in that role for 11 years. His 20 person crew has participated in numerous training and certification courses and they are well prepared to respond to various types of emergencies.