When disaster strikes, neighbors usually help neighbors whether it’s two people who live next door to each other or two villages separated by a few miles of state highway.
Last week, Lake Orion Village Manager Darwin McClary and Police Chief Jerry Narsh presented the Oxford Village Council with a certificate of appreciation for the ‘outstanding service? they received following a severe wind/hail storm on Saturday, April 12.
‘Your village manager, your police department, your dispatching center, your public works department all responded almost immediately (and) provided us with a great deal of assistance,? McClary said.
Straight-line wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour blew through Lake Orion that night, uprooting trees, bringing down power lines and damaging property.
‘Our community sustained a great deal of damage as a result of that storm,? McClary said.
‘The storm was of such magnitude that in an instant almost every section of the village received severely damaged homes, vehicles and property,? said Narsh, reading from the certificate. ‘Power was knocked out and every major street was blocked by uprooted trees and downed power lines.?
The speed with which Oxford came to Lake Orion’s rescue impressed both McClary and Narsh.
‘The Village of Oxford was almost immediately on the phone with us, offering assistance,? McClary said.
‘You guys should do a Jimmy John’s commercial because that was Jimmy John’s fast,? Narsh said. ‘We were still in the midst of the storm and stuff coming down and your folks were on the scene.?
Oxford provided 10 police officers and four DPW employees with heavy equipment and chainsaws.
Oxford’s dispatch center ‘quickly and efficiently handled and prioritized hundreds of calls for help in a very calm and professional manner,? according to the certificate.
All that help made a big difference.
‘We could not have recovered from that storm as quickly and as relatively painlessly as we did without the great assistance that we received from you,? McClary told council.
Narsh agreed.
‘Any major event requires a major response and we could not have done it without your assistance,? he said. ‘That’s what neighboring agencies do. That’s what communities do ? they work together, they get things done.?
In the end, McClary stressed the high value Lake Orion places on its relationship with its neighbor to the north.
‘We are so proud to be a partner with the Village of Oxford,? he said. ‘Your support, your friendship, your partnership means a great deal to our community.?
The following night at the May 14 Oxford Township Board meeting, Supervisor Bill Dunn noted how Oxford Village’s efforts were recognized by Lake Orion and ‘rightfully so.?
But he also pointed out ‘what was not mentioned? was how the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center helped out by handling overflow calls from the Oxford Village Police dispatch center.
‘I’d like to commend your guys at the (sheriff’s) dispatch center for doing what you’re supposed to do to help other communities,? Dunn told Undersheriff Mike McCabe, who was present at the meeting.
Of the nearly 300 calls the Oxford Village dispatch center handled that night, 46 defaulted to the sheriff’s dispatch center when Oxford’s 9-1-1 lines were busy.
‘We were happy to help out,? McCabe said. ‘Everything worked out . . . That’s what partnerships are all about.?
‘I’ll give (Oxford Police) Chief (Mike) Neymanowski credit for coming to us and asking to partner with us. It worked out really well,? the undersheriff noted.
Forty-one of the defaulted calls came from Lake Orion, while five originated in Oxford Village.
Since January, the Oxford dispatch center has been receiving all the 9-1-1 calls for both villages and dispatching calls for both police departments.
McCabe said the Oxford center was ‘overwhelmed? April 12 because ‘the vast majority? of 9-1-1 calls were from Lake Orion, which had been ‘devastated? by the storm.
McCabe explained that Oxford’s dispatch center has four trunk lines, so when a fifth person calls and those first four lines are tied up, it automatically defaults to the sheriff’s dispatch center in Pontiac.
‘They don’t get a busy signal,? he said.