KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich. — Months after two rounds of severe storms, including a tornado ripped across Kalamazoo County, Sheriff Richard Fuller released a new perspective on how police officers, firefighters, and other emergency personnel jumped into action on May 7.
In a video posted to the Sheriff's Office Facebook page, Sheriff Fuller said he was amazed at the amount of help sent in by neighboring communities and counties that night.
"We as responders were on scene all across the county," Fuller said. "Texas fire were taking care of the Texas township area. The city of Portage had its team working in the city of Portage as well as the Kalamazoo County team was out helping the different fire departments out in pavilion Township. That day, everybody came together. It was a great sense of being able to work with one another, and it's because we prepare as a community regularly for our emergency services to work together."
"I saw the Michigan State Police, Calhoun County Sheriff's Office, the county next door came over to assist us with these things, as well as all of the different fire departments," said Fuller. "I saw, the Richland Fire Department, the Augusta police department was in pavilion estates, helping us with the residents who were suffering minor injuries, but the trauma was significant."
Along with Fuller's on-camera statements, the video included radio calls from dispatchers warning crews of the second tornado warning issued as personnel were already working to clean up the tornado.
"The second tornado that came through was not an actual touchdown," said Fuller. "So it was more of a funnel cloud than a touchdown, but it was a massive storm that was about 900 feet down away from the first path of the first tornado, again, this one caused uprooted trees, damage to roofs and, you know, sporadic damage across its path."
16 people were hurt during the storms, but no one was killed noted Fuller. Many lost homes or businesses, some still don't have a roof over their head according to the Sheriff.
Body camera video
The final minutes of video included snippets of recordings from body-worn cameras from Kalamazoo Counties deputies.
The first clip came from just before 7:30 p.m. at Pavilion Estates when the second tornado warning was issued. Deputies yelled at people parked in cars to "find cover."
Other clips showed how deputies rescued people from damaged mobile homes.
Watch the full video here:
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WATCH: Helicopter video shows extent of tornado damage in Portage
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