Statement from Orland
Fire Protection District Fire Chief Ken Brucki
Power lines, trees
down but no structural damage reported in Orland Park
“Our community of Orland Park was very fortunate. We skirted
the major brunt of the storm. It was headed towards us but turned to the east
before creating damage to our community. As of now, we are not seeing much
damage. We are investigating wires down, trees down and power outages on 143rd
Street between Wolf and West Avenue … but we have not received any reports to
the OFPD of damage to any structures.
“As a precaution, we were extremely prepared for this storm
and tracked this for quite some time, called in additional dispatchers to
handle a potential increase in calls from residents. We put up our backup
dispatch center just in case there was an interruption of our communications so
we could switch to our backup centers to keep our communications.
“We also went into ‘Storm Mode in our dispatch center to put
all of our equipment, vehicles and personnel on ready and radio communications
so our notification is instant. It puts all of our on-duty personnel on an immediate
notice in the event of putting out a call.
“Assistance has not been requested from the other
communities around us but are ready if there is a need.
“Our technical rescue teams are on standby and we are prepared
to respond if we receive a call for assistance.”
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