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Emergency responders train at Wellsville Flood Wall

By KRISTI R. GARABRANDT 2 min read

WELLSVILLE --Members of the Wellsville Fire Department, Highlandtown Volunteer Fire Department and The Ohio Military Reserve and the Columbiana County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) gathered Saturday morning at the flood wall for a training on putting up the flood.

Training was held behind The Stephenson Manufacturing Company at the intersection of Second and Broadway streets

According to Wellsville Fire Chief Barry Podwel it was the first time for many of those present to train on this flood wall.

Capt. Dan Sutlift, OHMR (Ohio Military Reserve said his group was there in order to practice and to train in order to support communities in times of disaster such as flooding.

Sutlift said the OHMR is a part of the state defense force of Ohio. It is an all-volunteer force operating under the authority of the governor and the Ohio State Constitution Disaster Relief Force.

Prior to the flood training, Podwel showed the OHMR other flood wall locations and pump stations to explain their importance.

Podwel even though the flood walls have not needed to be erected for quite some time believes the firefighter should train periodically and all of them should have the know-how for quickly getting them up in the event they were to be needed. The Wellsville Fire Department trained on the Main Flood Gate on the bridge at First and Lisbon Streets back in April.

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