Sheriff Gordon Smith Hey, this is your sheriff bringing you an update reference Hurricane Ian, which is currently affecting our community as we speak. I stand here with our local leaders, county leaders, our local municipal leaders to show our coordination in reference to our preparation for the impending hurricane that we have coming at us. Be advised that tomorrow, at noon Wednesday, all the courthouses will be closed. All your county and circuit courts will be canceled until further notice. Most likely on Monday. We also want to talk to you basically about traffic. Remember that we have a severe traffic problem right now as people are evacuating the southwest Florida area, as they are moving and traversing through our highways. Please note and take extra time out if you have to move prior to this hurricane affecting us here in Bradford County. With that being said, I do want to introduce our emergency management director who has coordinated over the last several days in preparation for this, and coordinating with all our local officials, school officials and everybody, and the effect it will have on us and give you all the updates whether it be sandbags, whether it be shelter and those type things. So at this time I'll turn it over to emergency manager, Brad Witt. Lt. Brad Witt Well, Bradford County, my name is Brad Witt, Emergency Management Director for the county. Over the last few days we've been partnering with our local government response and recovery partners to get ready for Hurricane Ian. Our sandbag distribution points have been up and running for several days. We have two self-serve sites. Those are operating at the Heilbronn Springs Fire Station 40, and the Sampson City Fire Station. That's Station 90, down on 227 and Sampson City. Those sites run throughout the day. Understand that when we get high demand, sometimes the bags will run out temporarily and we will get those out there as quickly as possible. If you encounter a site without bags, please give us a call at the EOC. I’ll provide that number in just a moment and we'll work to replenish those as quickly as possible.
- Continued We're also giving out sandbags at our site of Market Road. So that's West Market Road, the opposite side of 301 from the fairgrounds. The easiest way to get there, if you're traveling north on 301, when you reach the red light at the Fairgrounds Market Road, hang a left, follow it around a curve and look to the left. There will be a illuminated message board there telling you where to enter for the sandbags. We're giving out 10 sandbags per vehicle that comes through. That will continue throughout the evening tonight until we run out and operations will be to be determined tomorrow, depending on weather and sandbag availability. Look to our Facebook for more announcements on that. Another key piece of information that we want to share is that tomorrow morning, that is Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM, we will be opening a general population, special needs and pet friendly shelter. That will be at Starke Elementary School. You need to look for 1000 West Weldon Street, Stark Elementary School. Please bring any essential items you need, such as personal hygiene items, medications, electronics, if you have a cot or air mattress that you prefer to bring, blanket, pillow, any of your important paperwork you may need for the storm, your insurance claims after the storm, things of that nature. If you're coming to a special needs shelter, make sure you bring your oxygen. If you’re on oxygen, bring that with you. Bring any medications you have, if you have special dietary items. And remember, you can bring one caregiver with you. If you have that caregiver, we highly highlyencourage you bring that person with you to assist you through this process. If you're bringing a pet to the pet friendly shelter, make sure you have food and crates you’re required to bring that in order to be able to board your pet in the pet friendly shelter. The last thing we want to do is encourage you if you are not signed up for our Everbridge, that is our emergency alert system, please get on to get signed up for that as soon as possible. You can go to www.bradfordsheriff.org and look for the Everbridge logo at the top of the page. Click on that, follow the prompts and get signed up. That's how we're going to push a lot of notifications out to the public throughout this event. The last thing I want to do is leave you with our EOC phone number. Starting tomorrow at 8 a.m, once the EOC is activated, it will be activated 24 hours a day until further notice, the storm from 8:00 tomorrow. And you can call (904) 966-6300. Again, (904) 966-6300. Again, with emergencies, always call 911 if you have an emergency. But if you have storm related issues, you have questions, if you try to dispel a rumor you've heard about the storm, you can call that number and we will get you to the right place to be able to get what you need with that Please stay safe Bradford, take this storm seriously. There is a potential for heavy rainfall and wind throughout the next few days so please take this very seriously. If you live in a low lying, flood prone area, or if you live in homes that are susceptible to wind damage, consider going ahead and getting into safer shelter. If that's with us, we welcome you there or if you have other shelters of refuge, you can get with family, friends and loved ones, please consider doing that if you feel that you are in any harm's way as this storm gets ready to progress through the next few days. Thank you. Bradford will be here for you. And with that, I'll turn it over to Bradford County Fire Rescue.
-Continued Chief Ben Carter Hello Bradford County, this is Chief Ben Carter here with Bradford County Fire Rescue. A couple things I want to mention to you. First and foremost, I want to make sure that your safety is top priority. Let you know that that is our mission and our goal is to keep you safe throughout this event. Couple of things to keep in mind. Make sure that you take some photos and videos of your house before the storm so that way we know that your insurance companies will be able to know what kind of damage you've sustained after the storm. Oxygen supplies, making sure that you have plenty of oxygen if you are oxygen dependent. Making sure that you have a backup generator up and running and just making sure that you have all the supplies that you will need to carry through this storm. Medications, the governor did sign an order to be able to refill your medications earlier than your prescription would typically allow so if you're running low on your medications, go ahead and go get those filled and be proactive about that. When you're out and about after the storm passes through, just be mindful of the animals that maybe have got loose. Snakes or, even as silly as that may sound, ants were one of the biggest things that we had to combat during Hurricane Irma was actually the ants. So if you would, just make sure you're careful when you're walking around after the storm passes through. If you see a tree down, just assume that there's a power line that is down with it. Unless you’re in the middle of a field and you know that there's no power lines around, just assume that any tree down there has got a power line associated with it as well. And then the last thing I want to mention is on the county courthouse. As you mentioned, the courthouse is going to be closed. The county offices will be closed as well. So all nonessential county services will be shut down at 12 noon on Wednesday. Thank you very much. Brandon Ludwig Good afternoon. I'm Brandon Ludwig with the city of Starke. Tuesday, the city determined that at 5 p.m., effective on this afternoon, Tuesday, that the city would declare a local state of emergency. That state of emergency will run until October 4th and effective, because of that local state of emergency, city Hall will close on Wednesday afternoon at 12 p.m. We are also advising our residents not to bring payments by the drop box, and instead, bring them by on Monday, October 4th when we hope to reopen. One other thing I'm going to have before I turn it over to our partners of course with Starke Fire Rescue and of course Starke police department is that, please be sure to take precautions as you drive out. We do expect heavy rains, potential flooding in certain areas of town. We encourage you to follow us on social media at City of Starke, on Facebook or on Instagram, of course, Bradford County Emergency Management, and that's going to be where you're going to get your most active updates for what's going on within the city as well as within the county. We've got great partners here that have been working together to make this happen, and I look forward to our continued coordination to successfully get our county through this event. I'm now going to bring up our Starke Fire Rescue chief, Mr. Gary Wise. Chief Gary Wise Good afternoon, I'm Chief Wise with City of Starke Fire Department. Just want to touch base with you on a few safety concerns that we want to put out to everyone. Number one, generators. If you're operating a generator, that's all well and good. That's outstanding, but please do it safely. Don't put it in an enclosed garage or carport or anything like that. Make sure it's out of the open where you won't get the possibility of carbon monoxide. Another thing with your generator, if you do operator generator, make sure you shut your main’s off so you're not back feeding to the power coming down the lines that might be up or down, which will back feed, which we cause injury to the linemen or emergency personnel that are trying to clear the situation. Power line safety, just assume that power lines on the ground is live. Don’t walk up to it. Don't get near it. They can arc, they can whip around if power is back on. So just if you see a line on ground, assume it is active. Floodwaters, roads, if you pull up to a road and you see it's under water, stop. Backup. Don't try to cross it. You can get swept away. We do have some low lying areas here that have flooded in the past. And if your vehicle gets stuck in the middle of the road, all that's going to do is hinder first responders that are trying to get to that area to rectify that situation. So just use your head, be safe, use common sense and stay safe out there. I’ll bring up the City of Starke Police Department.
Detective Hunter Redding How’s it going I’m detective black with the Starke Police Department. To touch on a few things very quickly, we want to urge our citizens to be very careful approaching roadways that are flooded. We urge you do not drive through flooded areas. As they said, call the EOC number or if it's emergency, of course, call 9-1-1. We’ll bring in updates through our Facebook page as well as the neighbors app that we utilize. Our offices will be closed tomorrow at 12. Noon, and whenever we decide to reopen, we’ll make sure our community is aware of that. Superintendent Superintendent Will Hartley Good afternoon, I’m superintendent of schools Will Hartley and I'm here to give you an update on Bradford County schools as we prepare for Hurricane Ian. All schools and the school board district offices will be closed Wednesday, September 28th through Friday, September 30th. Again, all schools will be closed Wednesday through Friday of this week. As we prepare for this storm, please be safe and take it seriously and we look forward to seeing our students back at school on Monday. Thank you. Sheriff Gordon Smith I’d like to give a big shout out to all of our partners here who are working diligently over the last couple of days, making sure we get everything ready to go in preparation for the impending hurricane. But can't say thank you enough, and to Bradford County, I just want you to know that you can be well assured that in this group right here that we’ll keep our community safe and that we're here for you. Please reach out if you need us and remember, we care.
Sheriff Gordon Smith
Hey, this is your sheriff bringing you an update reference Hurricane Ian, which is currently affecting our community as we speak. I stand here with our local leaders, county leaders, our local municipal leaders to show our coordination in reference to our preparation for the impending hurricane that we have coming at us. Be advised that tomorrow, at noon Wednesday, all the courthouses will be closed. All your county and circuit courts will be canceled until further notice. Most likely on Monday. We also want to talk to you basically about traffic. Remember that we have a severe traffic problem right now as people are evacuating the southwest Florida area, as they are moving and traversing through our highways. Please note and take extra time out if you have to move prior to this hurricane affecting us here in Bradford County.
With that being said, I do want to introduce our emergency management director who has coordinated over the last several days in preparation for this, and coordinating with all our local officials, school officials and everybody, and the effect it will have on us and give you all the updates whether it be sandbags, whether it be shelter and those type things. So at this time I'll turn it over to emergency manager, Brad Witt.
Lt. Brad Witt
Well, Bradford County, my name is Brad Witt, Emergency Management Director for the county. Over the last few days we've been partnering with our local government response and recovery partners to get ready for Hurricane Ian. Our sandbag distribution points have been up and running for several days. We have two self-serve sites. Those are operating at the Heilbronn Springs Fire Station 40, and the Sampson City Fire Station. That's Station 90, down on 227 and Sampson City. Those sites run throughout the day. Understand that when we get high demand, sometimes the bags will run out temporarily and we will get those out there as quickly as possible. If you encounter a site without bags, please give us a call at the EOC. I’ll provide that number in just a moment and we'll work to replenish those as quickly as possible.
- Continued
We're also giving out sandbags at our site of Market Road. So that's West Market Road, the opposite side of 301 from the fairgrounds. The easiest way to get there, if you're traveling north on 301, when you reach the red light at the Fairgrounds Market Road, hang a left, follow it around a curve and look to the left. There will be a illuminated message board there telling you where to enter for the sandbags. We're giving out 10 sandbags per vehicle that comes through.
That will continue throughout the evening tonight until we run out and operations will be to be determined tomorrow, depending on weather and sandbag availability. Look to our Facebook for more announcements on that. Another key piece of information that we want to share is that tomorrow morning, that is Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM, we will be opening a general population, special needs and pet friendly shelter. That will be at Starke Elementary School.
You need to look for 1000 West Weldon Street, Stark Elementary School. Please bring any essential items you need, such as personal hygiene items, medications, electronics, if you have a cot or air mattress that you prefer to bring, blanket, pillow, any of your important paperwork you may need for the storm, your insurance claims after the storm, things of that nature.
If you're coming to a special needs shelter, make sure you bring your oxygen. If you’re on oxygen, bring that with you. Bring any medications you have, if you have special dietary items. And remember, you can bring one caregiver with you. If you have that caregiver, we highly highlyencourage you bring that person with you to assist you through this process.
If you're bringing a pet to the pet friendly shelter, make sure you have food and crates you’re required to bring that in order to be able to board your pet in the pet friendly shelter. The last thing we want to do is encourage you if you are not signed up for our Everbridge, that is our emergency alert system, please get on to get signed up for that as soon as possible.
You can go to www.bradfordsheriff.org and look for the Everbridge logo at the top of the page. Click on that, follow the prompts and get signed up. That's how we're going to push a lot of notifications out to the public throughout this event. The last thing I want to do is leave you with our EOC phone number. Starting tomorrow at 8 a.m, once the EOC is activated, it will be activated 24 hours a day until further notice, the storm from 8:00 tomorrow. And you can call (904) 966-6300. Again, (904) 966-6300. Again, with emergencies, always call 911 if you have an emergency. But if you have storm related issues, you have questions, if you try to dispel a rumor you've heard about the storm, you can call that number and we will get you to the right place to be able to get what you need with that
Please stay safe Bradford, take this storm seriously. There is a potential for heavy rainfall and wind throughout the next few days so please take this very seriously. If you live in a low lying, flood prone area, or if you live in homes that are susceptible to wind damage, consider going ahead and getting into safer shelter. If that's with us, we welcome you there or if you have other shelters of refuge, you can get with family, friends and loved ones, please consider doing that if you feel that you are in any harm's way as this storm gets ready to progress through the next few days. Thank you. Bradford will be here for you. And with that, I'll turn it over to Bradford County Fire Rescue.
-Continued
Chief Ben Carter
Hello Bradford County, this is Chief Ben Carter here with Bradford County Fire Rescue. A couple things I want to mention to you. First and foremost, I want to make sure that your safety is top priority. Let you know that that is our mission and our goal is to keep you safe throughout this event. Couple of things to keep in mind. Make sure that you take some photos and videos of your house before the storm so that way we know that your insurance companies will be able to know what kind of damage you've sustained after the storm. Oxygen supplies, making sure that you have plenty of oxygen if you are oxygen dependent. Making sure that you have a backup generator up and running and just making sure that you have all the supplies that you will need to carry through this storm. Medications, the governor did sign an order to be able to refill your medications earlier than your prescription would typically allow so if you're running low on your medications, go ahead and go get those filled and be proactive about that. When you're out and about after the storm passes through, just be mindful of the animals that maybe have got loose. Snakes or, even as silly as that may sound, ants were one of the biggest things that we had to combat during Hurricane Irma was actually the ants. So if you would, just make sure you're careful when you're walking around after the storm passes through. If you see a tree down, just assume that there's a power line that is down with it. Unless you’re in the middle of a field and you know that there's no power lines around, just assume that any tree down there has got a power line associated with it as well. And then the last thing I want to mention is on the county courthouse. As you mentioned, the courthouse is going to be closed. The county offices will be closed as well. So all nonessential county services will be shut down at 12 noon on Wednesday. Thank you very much.
Brandon Ludwig
Good afternoon. I'm Brandon Ludwig with the city of Starke. Tuesday, the city determined that at 5 p.m., effective on this afternoon, Tuesday, that the city would declare a local state of emergency. That state of emergency will run until October 4th and effective, because of that local state of emergency, city Hall will close on Wednesday afternoon at 12 p.m. We are also advising our residents not to bring payments by the drop box, and instead, bring them by on Monday, October 4th when we hope to reopen. One other thing I'm going to have before I turn it over to our partners of course with Starke Fire Rescue and of course Starke police department is that, please be sure to take precautions as you drive out. We do expect heavy rains, potential flooding in certain areas of town. We encourage you to follow us on social media at City of Starke, on Facebook or on Instagram, of course, Bradford County Emergency Management, and that's going to be where you're going to get your most active updates for what's going on within the city as well as within the county. We've got great partners here that have been working together to make this happen, and I look forward to our continued coordination to successfully get our county through this event. I'm now going to bring up our Starke Fire Rescue chief, Mr. Gary Wise.
Chief Gary Wise
Good afternoon, I'm Chief Wise with City of Starke Fire Department. Just want to touch base with you on a few safety concerns that we want to put out to everyone. Number one, generators. If you're operating a generator, that's all well and good. That's outstanding, but please do it safely. Don't put it in an enclosed garage or carport or anything like that. Make sure it's out of the open where you won't get the possibility of carbon monoxide. Another thing with your generator, if you do operator generator, make sure you shut your main’s off so you're not back feeding to the power coming down the lines that might be up or down, which will back feed, which we cause injury to the linemen or emergency personnel that are trying to clear the situation. Power line safety, just assume that power lines on the ground is live. Don’t walk up to it. Don't get near it. They can arc, they can whip around if power is back on. So just if you see a line on ground, assume it is active. Floodwaters, roads, if you pull up to a road and you see it's under water, stop. Backup. Don't try to cross it. You can get swept away. We do have some low lying areas here that have flooded in the past. And if your vehicle gets stuck in the middle of the road, all that's going to do is hinder first responders that are trying to get to that area to rectify that situation. So just use your head, be safe, use common sense and stay safe out there. I’ll bring up the City of Starke Police Department.
Detective Hunter Redding
How’s it going I’m detective black with the Starke Police Department. To touch on a few things very quickly, we want to urge our citizens to be very careful approaching roadways that are flooded. We urge you do not drive through flooded areas. As they said, call the EOC number or if it's emergency, of course, call 9-1-1. We’ll bring in updates through our Facebook page as well as the neighbors app that we utilize. Our offices will be closed tomorrow at 12. Noon, and whenever we decide to reopen, we’ll make sure our community is aware of that. Superintendent
Superintendent Will Hartley
Good afternoon, I’m superintendent of schools Will Hartley and I'm here to give you an update on Bradford County schools as we prepare for Hurricane Ian. All schools and the school board district offices will be closed Wednesday, September 28th through Friday, September 30th. Again, all schools will be closed Wednesday through Friday of this week. As we prepare for this storm, please be safe and take it seriously and we look forward to seeing our students back at school on Monday. Thank you.
Sheriff Gordon Smith
I’d like to give a big shout out to all of our partners here who are working diligently over the last couple of days, making sure we get everything ready to go in preparation for the impending hurricane. But can't say thank you enough, and to Bradford County, I just want you to know that you can be well assured that in this group right here that we’ll keep our community safe and that we're here for you. Please reach out if you need us and remember, we care.