Leaving St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington after a patient transport and headed south on Route One for Townsend, the 101 Public Affairs Detachment chases the calls for assistance as the National Guard maneuvers through the snow to assist police and fire personnel as well as civilians during the second storm to rock the region in one week.
While the worst weather is yet to come, the call goes out that Townsend Fire Company's roof is collapsing. A staging area for both EMS and National Guard personnel, the fire company becomes yet another building to suffer a roof collapse in Delaware this week, preceded by the collapse of West Seaford Elementary School, the Big Lots Store on US 113 in Milford and Cerni Business Park on Ogeltown Rd.
With the storm apparently stalled over the area and dropping wet snow thick and fast the PAD is sure there will be more such stories as the hours tick by. Sure enough, on the approach to Townsend, they pass C-Line Stables Equestrian Center who's weathervane, normally adorning the pinnacle of their newly constructed circle ring, sits sunken and askew.
The radio squawks as missions across New Castle County report their status; an EMS call in Newark proves uneventful, State Troopers need shuttled, a civilian stuck roadside is delivered safely, and the list goes on.
It's only 11:00 a.m. and the storm is just getting started. Deciding where to go and what to cover can be difficult as the PAD tries to catch their fellow Guard members doing what they do best: serving their community.
Arriving at the Townsend Fire Company, the PAD finds the skeletal remains of a once new and shiny fire building. Standing outside of it, fire department members discuss in ernest the situation. One member, Brandy Biggs, is bundled in fire company turnout gear with an Army Staff Sgt. patrol cap. None of the gear is hers.
When asked, she simply replied that everyone had to work to get out fast as the building was coming down. All of her things were left somewhere under the rubble but she wasn't cold thanks to the generosity of her friends. That's the story that the PAD is after. Service and teamwork.
Brandy Biggs smiles while Staff Sgt. Wayne Chip Davis, whose hat she's wearing, makes a snow angle in front of the fire company.
Then, from the cargo pocket of one PAD member's ACU's the radio squawks again, a fire call in Odessa. Time to go.
There's still 24 hours of storm left to come and a lot of ground to cover if there's any chance of catching the next "Brandy" and the next "Staff Sgt." as the Guard continues to reach out to fellow Delawareans in a time of crisis.