Banken called up to assist Butler County rescue efforts

Fire Chief Al Banken, along with firefighter Don Seymore, answered the call that came in early Thursday morning from Region E in Butler County to assist at the command post during flood rescue efforts all over the county.

"We supervised and coordinated operations for general rescue of the public," said Banken this morning.

Command post operations were situated at Butler County's fire station located on Highway 67 South. Several agencies, according to Banken, were on hand to aid in rescue efforts in the county, with several rescues taking place in the Neelyville are. Banken and Seymore acted to track all rescue efforts from the command post as various agencies were called out around the area.

"Rescues continued into Thursday night," Banken said, "with both boat and helicopter rescues taking place."

Butler County's Fire Department, Police, the Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Coast Guard and AmeriCorps volunteers were all on hand to assist with the rescue efforts across the area.

"With the Black River cresting Thursday," Banken explained, "it's not likely that we'll be needed to further assist and there is no rain in the immediate forecast."