Lexington Firefighters return from hurricane response

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Two Lexington Firefighters have returned home. They were in Florida, helping in the response to Hurricane Ian.

Captains Nick Bodkin and Ryan Hogsten are members of the Ohio Task Force One, Helping with rescue and recovery efforts. And they’re not alone in their work.

“We saw people in their neighborhoods. The first time seeing their houses. They were asking a lot of questions about what they can and can’t do. Trying to get access to information they didn’t have access to at the time,” said Captain Bodkin.

Ian hit Southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 28th.

“We started in Sarasota. Then worked our way down in a couple communities. All the way down to Fort Myers and then Fort Myers Beach.”

Captains Bodkin and Hogsten were already on the ground helping on the 29th.

“There’s a few neighborhoods completely wiped out. There’s nothing left of them. The damage on the news, it just doesn’t really catch because there’s places they can’t get to, that we can because of how bad it is.”

The team evacuated dozens of people and pets, searching through debris for those still unaccounted for.

“Using skills we’ve trained on for years, and using them in a disaster situation has been rewarding to try and help those people.”

Many teams leaving from Lexington following Ian. So far, the Emergency Disaster Services teams have deployed 13 base camps for the utility crews whose work is no where close to being finished. Which means neither is Matthew Daley’s.

“There’s a lot of debris removal. A lot of transportation hinderances. Our clients are having their bucket trucks airlifted into the island area,” said Daley.

Daley’s team responds to natural disasters across the country.

“In most places, they’re still trying to clear paths, clear landings in areas in which folks, like our company, operate out of.”

The work to repair the infrastructure beginning, after the storms pass.

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