GRAVETTE, Ark. — When it comes to helping, first responders know no boundaries. That's why a group of Gravette first responders answered the call when deadly storms and tornadoes ripped through Benton County, specifically in Decatur.
"I'm extremely proud of this fire department and their actions that night," Capt. Travis Harp said. "Through all of the obstacles, they didn't let that stop them from getting to those who were injured and needed our help."
At the city council meeting on June 11, Mayor Kurt Maddox recognized 17 first responders with a Distinguished Service Award who helped rescue and treat 18 people and respond to over 1,200 calls.
Capt. Harp was on shift that night and immediately responded to calls in Decatur, going house by house and seeing if anyone needed help.
"When we pulled up there, we didn't really know if there was a house there or not. It was so dark and raining and the silhouettes of the house were no longer normal," Harp said. "It was just chaotic and devastating to see."
He was one of the first people to respond to Jesse and Renee Pointer whose mobile home in Decatur flipped during the storm.
"We deemed them that night, the most critically injured people that we found, and they were at a location that was extremely difficult to get to," Harp said. "Several of us ended up walking with medical bags, medications, and stokes baskets to get to them, and we walked several miles once we located them."
They put the couple on the stretcher and did what was necessary to get them to emergency vehicles.
"We field acquired a tractor to load them on, and we used ratchet straps and put them on the tractor to get them out of there as far as we could until we had to walk them out," Harp said.
Lots of members of the fire department were not on shift that night but responded anyway. Dakota Smith, a firefighter with the department, was taking shelter in his laundry room.
"I had my radio on, and I listened to all the calls going out and heard what was happening in Decatur," Smith said. "By that time, when the storm had passed over, I knew it was time to head to the station and get ready to go. Once you started seeing houses spread across the road, everything became very real in a moment."
They hit the ground running as soon as they arrived in Decatur.
"We had to hike many miles to get through terrain and around pastures and cutting fence and getting over trees and over power lines," Smith said. "I could just see the relief in homeowners and people when they started seeing flashlights and whatnot coming through their windows and through their houses."
Grant Beasley and his wife Rylee Beasley, who are both firefighters with the department, were watching the radar and ready.
"We knew it was going to be big, so we went ahead and headed to the fire department, and grabbed a truck," Grant said. "We actually had to abandon our truck to actually hike out to where we were going to. It was probably about a quarter mile of downed trees that we had to hike through and over and under."
He recalls having a hard time getting to people but said it was worth it once some were rescued.
"The big thing that I really thought about was we really needed the resources out at that location," Grant said. "One of the hardest things for us was just realizing that resources were so far away but so close."
Crews worked until the sun was up, and then some, to help the neighboring community.
"To give us an award, that was just fantastic," Smith said. "Shows that your work doesn't go unnoticed."
"Their selflessness and their actions that night will forever be inspirational to me," Harp said. "Through the chaos and the devastation, they never skipped the beat."
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