Help from around the state floods into Saratoga

With shovels in hand, crews hailed from all over the region to assist in the flood control efforts.

Along with hundreds of Honor Farm inmate crews and National Guard, as many as 225 volunteers helped fill and toss sandbags alongside the North Platte River and in other Carbon County communities.

University of Wyoming

volunteers

Poke Pride extended beyond the confines of War-Memorial Stadium on Friday, as more than 70 members of the University of Wyoming football team and UW staff came to the Platte Valley to help with flood mitigation.

Mark Collins, the associate vice-president of operations at UW, organized the effort that sent UW staff and students to Saratoga. Originally planning to send personnel to assist with Laramie River flooding, Albany County officials announced they did not need anymore assistance in filling sandbags.

"As we talked about it as an administrative group," Collins said. "We said the place where we can make a difference is Saratoga."

Collins said he asked for volunteers from the UW Police Department and the physical plant. A physical plant employee who helped was Al Haskins said he volunteered a day out of his time simply to help those in need.

"People are in trouble here," Haskins said. "It's about generosity: there are people here who need our help."

Collins said he also contacted new head football coach Craig Bohl about having some of his student-athletes help with the flood efforts. Collins said Bohl was "100 percent enthusiastic" about letting his players help with the effort.

"One of the things (Bohl) had some experience with, when he was in North Dakota, they had a lot of flooding they had to work with," Collins said. "He said, 'I put my football players up there on the front lines before. They do a great job and work as a team.'"

Senior quarterback of the Cowboys, Colby Kierkegaard, said he and his teammates had no problem helping with the flood efforts, despite the time it took away from their summer workouts.

"The coaches saw a good opportunity for us to help out in the community. We have a lot of people on the team, we thought we could help, so we signed up."

Col. Scott Schofield, with the National Guard, said he was extremely pleased with the efforts the UW staff and football team put into the sandbag operations, remarking how fast they were able to build barriers and how their efforts made it possible to give some of his troops a well-needed rest.

National Guard

The Wyoming National Guard deployed to Saratoga on May 25. Originally made up of 50 members, reinforcements increased to 153 personnel and 23 vehicles after troops had to be sent to Woods Landing to assist with their flooding effort.

Troops were not limited to Saratoga, but had to assist in operations throughout Carbon County, including operations in Elk Mountain.

Soldiers and airmen slept at the Platte Valley Community Center, and took turns with 24-hour surveillance along the river.

Schofield said he was impressed with the work of the soldiers and airmen in Saratoga. At press time, the National Guard was demobilizing from Saratoga.

Chris Hoskins has been in the National Guard for three years, and this is the first time he has been called to active duty overseas or stateside.

Hoskins is a technician in Cheyenne with the AASF (Army Aviation Support Facility), which is a civilian position that requires National Guard involvement.

"I love doing this stuff," Hoskins said of working on the flood mitigation effort.

On Friday, Hoskins was going back and forth from the state penitentiary in Rawlins where the sandbags were being filled, and bringing them to Elk Mountain.

The Honor Farm inmates were loading the sandbags and loading them on the trucks, then the soldiers would take them where they were needed. More than 1,300 sandbags were delivered to Elk Mountain.

Team Rubicon

Team Rubicon, a veteran-led, non-profit veterans service organization, launched "Operation: Buffalo Roam" in Saratoga this week. Members of Team Rubicon in Saratoga, Chris Epps, from Colorado Springs , colo., and William Porter from West Point, Utah, said they were asked by the Wyoming State Voluntary Organizations Active in a Disasters (VOAD) to help with the flood mitigation in Saratoga.

"That's kind of what we do," Epps said. "We help out with disaster mitigation and disaster response around the nation."

The organization was founded in 2010 by two former Marines who wanted to help with the earthquake disaster in Haiti. Since then, the organization has grown nationally and now focuses on domestic disasters.

Team Rubicon's members are comprised of an estimated 80 percent of military veterans. Porter said the volunteer organization helps recent veterans transition back into civilian life.

"We realized that one of our purposes are that not only can we take the skills (veterans) had developed in combat zone into a disaster zone, we can also heal those wounds, or reintroduce them into society by having them complete domestic missions," Porter said.

The Saratoga floods were the first time Team Rubicon has been in Wyoming. Porter said their first mission in the Equality State will help them reach out to more veterans in Wyoming.

"With the war in Afghanistan winding down, there are going to be more people coming off of active duty, those who are coming out of the National Guard, they are going to be looking for that sense of purpose again, and they are going to be looking for that sense of community," Porter said.

Epps said on Thursday they had around 10 members helping with the flood efforts in Saratoga and were expecting more to arrive that day.

Honor Farm inmate crews

The arrival of the inmate crews on May 25 marked the beginning of sandbagging efforts in Saratoga. Wearing bright clothing, crews spent the entire week building and filling sandbags.

At the peak of operations, there were five inmate crews in Saratoga.

Several people were impressed with the effort the crews put into sandbag operations, saying the crews worked as hard as anyone else. Several Saratoga residents were also amazed at the speed in which they built the barriers.

Local efforts

Stopping by when they could, several volunteers from the Platte Valley and surrounding areas helped fill and toss sandbags to help their community.

Royce Kelley, a Saratoga resident and volunteer, said he was less concerned with his property near the river and more concerned with his neighbors.

"We have a lot of school kids who live in these low-lying areas," he said. "We have a lot of seniors who live in these troubled areas."

He added the fight against the floods brings people together as a community.

"The more the people communicate with each other and work together, they get to be a community."

Several town of Saratoga employees helped with the efforts by donating their equipment and manpower. Most notably, the town used their equipment to haul sandbags to the critical areas. Many of the Saratoga firefighters helped fill sandbags as well.

Other volunteers included a group from Laramie, who wish to remain anonymous. A representative from the group said they came over several times during the week to fill sandbags for at least six hours a day.

Local Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) crews worked to clear debris caught on local bridges.

Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator John Zeiger said the efforts of all the volunteers were well-appreciated.

"It's great that people were willing to come over and help out a community," Zeiger said. "I think this is very cool of them."