Graham, Young County answer call to help following Jacksboro tornado

Following Monday afternoon’s EF-3 tornado striking the city of Jacksboro, the city received a large outpouring of support for search and rescue efforts as well as the early stages of cleanup. Agencies from the city of Graham as well as other entities of Young County were among several entities arriving to assist.

At approximately 3:10 p.m. Monday, a tornado warning was issued for Jack County. Frank Hefner, Jack County Emergency Management Coordinator, said shortly after the alert, first responders were called to begin storm spotting.

“We started tracking a cell and a wall cloud that was moving from the southwest of our county, moving northeast. At that time, we were starting to see evidence that possibly a tornado was forming, that it was rain-wrapped, and couldn’t get a visual picture of it,” Hefner said.

Up to 80 homes, along with the Jacksboro High School and Jacksboro Elementary School, were reported to have sustained major damage due to the tornado and severe weather. Jacksboro Police Chief Scott Haynes said his department worked closely with the school district to ensure the safety of the students, teachers, and parents.

“When this storm started hitting, one of the first things we did, we were on the phone directly with our superintendents of each school district, Bryson, Jacksboro and Perrin. And we were asking them to lock down, we were asking them to make sure that they did not release their students until we found out exactly what the significance of this storm that was rolling in,” Haynes said. “Jack County doesn’t get very many tornado warnings, but when we do, the National Weather Service was very responsive to us making sure that we were notified that we were under a direct significant event that was fixing to unfold on us. We just didn’t know how bad it was. So I have to applaud our school districts, for keeping our students and their staff safe, as well as the parents that were there to pick them up. And they were able to get them inside facilities, get them housed, and making sure that everybody was safe, as they were there to pick up their kids, and so I have to applaud the school districts for heeding to those warnings and making sure that they stayed in place.”

Many first responders from outside of Jack County responded to assist with going door-to-door doing primary searches and clearing streets and debris. Units were dispatched from Young County, Wichita County, Archer County, Clay County, Throckmorton County, as well as many other departments in surrounding areas, including Windthorst, Scotland and Woodson.

Just before 4:15 p.m. Monday, Olney Fire Department, Graham FD, Salt Creek Volunteer FD, Eliasville VFD, Loving VFD, Newcastle VFD, Young County Sheriff’s Office, Graham EMS according to the Young County Blotter. The city of Graham also had crews in Jacksboro. First responders remained in Jacksboro until around 10 p.m. Monday night.Young County Sheriff Travis Babcock said his day started early Monday morning with the Salt Creek Volunteer Fire Department fighting a fire in Young County and both agencies went to Jacksboro to assist following the tornado.

The outpouring of support from the city of Graham continued Tuesday through the support of local community members. The Lady Blues softball team hosted a “Fill The Truck” event. From 2:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, community members were invited to drop off donation items to the Graham High School softball field located in front of the Young County Arena.

For the full story, see the Saturday, March 26 edition of The Graham Leader.