Saturday, May 01, 1999
Emergency-service students aid tornado cleanup
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
At first, residents of Montgomery Woods thought the well-conditioned young men working chain saws were members of a National Guard unit there this week to help in the cleanup.
They called each other “Sir,” “Sergeant” and “Cor poral” and conducted themselves with military precision. But they couldn't be soldiers. They were wearing blue uni forms, not green ones.
“Wherever we go, a lot of people think we are military,” said Capt. John Tanner, leader of a group of 26 men from the Advanced Training Institute's Air Land Emergency Resource Team (ALERT) of Watersmeet, Mich.
ATI is a Christian-based, paramilitary school that trains students in emergency services and graduates them with a variety of skill certifications. The ALERT members cut trees and cleared brush last week in Symmes Township and Montgomery before leaving Friday.
Residents were impressed. “They've done great work,” said JoAn Dickerson, a Montgomery homeowner whose wooded Lakewater Drive lot was heavily damaged by the tornado.
Since forming in Michigan five years ago, ALERT has assisted in cleanup after Hurricane Mitch in Honduras; an ice storm in Omaha, Neb.; tornadoes in Oregon and Tennessee; and the Ohio and Licking rivers flood in 1997.
“We were at Falmouth, yessir,” Capt. Tanner said.
The ALERT crew was invited to assist after the April 9 tornado by Symmes Township police and arrived April 18. The two dozen men slept at Bethel Baptist Temple in Symmes Township and ate do nated food.
As a training institute, their services were free.
ALERT receives donations, which helps to finance the program. Students also pay tuition to attend the school.
They arrived in the Tristate in three vans and hauling an equipment trailer filled with chain saws, safety gear and goggles and helmets.
“We're going to try to get them back when we start on the Johnson Nature Preserve in a few weeks,” said Bob Nikula, Montgomery's public works director.
ALERT was born out of the Institute of Basic Life Principles, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based organization that spawned the Advanced Training Institute as a place for students to apply what they had learned in the classroom. Students can enroll at 17 and have come from dozens of nations; 200 students are enrolled at ATI.
They must complete an eight-week boot camp. One requirement is a 24-hour hike. They can complete three phases of training over 18 months in leadership, first aid, response diving, ham radio, search and rescue, emergency medicine, auto mechanics, construction and aviation.
Sgt. Samuel Mills, 20, of Dallas, attended ATI instead of joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
“This is what I wanted,” said Sgt. Mills, second-in-command in the field for the Tristate tornado operation. “I wanted to be part of a group of men committed to God and service.”
ALERT takes students to the field to use and enhance skills.
“We produce Godly men with good character,” Capt. Tanner said. “When a man learns to place his life in God's hands, God raises him up and uses him.”
For more information, contact ALERT at (906) 358-4500 or alert@nwcc.iblp.org
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