A retired and current firefighter have returned to Hamilton with a sense of accomplishment and the ever-present sense of a call to duty after their six-day deployment with Ohio Task Force 1, prompted by Hurricane Matthew.
Lt. David Oakley, who has worked for the Hamilton Fire Department for 16 years, and Ray Smith, who retired in 2011 after a 31-year career with the department, were embedded with the 83-member task force that rescued dozens of residents and more than two dozen animals in the areas of Fayetteville and Lumberton, N.C.
Oakley and Smith recently talked with the Journal-News about their experience and said the images of people in rescue boats and on the backs of rescuers will stay with them forever.