(Lawrenceville, Ga., Sept. 6, 2019) – A specialized team of personnel from the Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services was deployed as part of the state’s organized response to Hurricane Dorian. Emergency management and public safety officials from Gwinnett participated in National Weather Service briefings held at the County’s Emergency Operations Center as the storm intensified and threatened the Georgia coast.  

As Dorian moved slowly up the coastline, firefighter-paramedics readied medical equipment on the department’s Mobile Ambulance Bus, known as MAB-II. The unit is housed at Fire Station 31 in Lawrenceville and routinely responds to working incidents within the county to provide rehab services for crews at the scene and is available to respond to multi-patient emergency medical calls ranging from vehicle accidents to disastrous incidents. 

The MAB-II unit, along with five highly-trained and highly-skilled firefighter-paramedics was requested by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency due to the potential for incidents involving multiple patients. The unit left Gwinnett County and headed to the southeastern coastal area at 6 a.m. on Thursday, Sept.5. The crew was equipped to be self-sufficient for up to 72-hours and carried cases of bottled water, meals ready-to-eat (MRE’s), extra batteries, and portable radios for team communications in the field. In addition to the items necessary to sustain the crew, the MAB was also stocked with a host of medical equipment to include: IV fluids, medications, soft goods for bandaging and splinting, trauma kits, and monitors to assess patient vital signs during emergency care and transport.

The Gwinnett County Department of Support Services also assisted in the deployment by providing a fuel trailer, support truck, and Fleet Services Technician to accompany the MAB unit on its journey to the coast. Emergency management and public safety stakeholders within the County worked together to make the deployment of personnel and resources a tremendous success.   

Thankfully, hurricane Dorian’s impact on coastal Georgia was minimal from a casualty standpoint and the MAB unit’s deployment was short-lived. The crew returned to Gwinnett late Thursday afternoon after spending part of the day staging at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.

While we are grateful for the measure of safety we have in metro Atlanta from the effects of the hurricane, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those in the storm’s path, including fire, emergency management and law enforcement personnel.