Arkansas crews sent to assist with Hurricane Milton recovery efforts

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Hurricane Milton is now a Category 5 storm and is expected to hit the Tampa Bay area off the coast of Florida late on Wednesday night or early on Thursday morning.

With emergency services already stretched thin in that area due to Hurricane Helene which hit not too long ago, first responders from Arkansas have been jumping in to fill the gap.

MEMS Operations Manager John Woodward explained how on Sunday night they deployed crews to Florida to assist before Milton makes landfall.

"We already had these arrangements preset. We accepted the deployment, and we were able to send one of our ALS crews down there to help," Woodward described.

Milton has been putting emergency services in Florida in a tough situation since they are still actively working to assist people who were affected by Helene.

This is why Woodward said that Arkansas organizations like theirs have been assisting with evacuation efforts as much as they can.

"Emergency services in Florida are taking care of their normal 911 calls that are there, but there are people that don't have the ability to evacuate by car, so they rely on ambulance," he said. "So for anything that's in the direct path of the hurricane that's where the ambulance services get together and help out the need for the state of Florida."

However, the compassion to help others doesn't stop at MEMS. The list carries on to different ambulance services across the state that are all trying to make a difference.

"This is just a small way that MEMS is able to reach out a helping hand, the old phrase neighbor, helping neighbor. and we're able to help out with that," Woodward said.

For a list of ways that you can help hurricane victims, please click here.