County EOC Tree Incident Served as a Reminder to Workers

Media Contact: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930

Early this morning, at about 2:30 am, a large mature tree was toppled by the strong winds of Irene near the location of an open and functioning County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

County employees, assigned to work the overnight shift at the EOC, had parked their cars in the 6800 block of Webster Street leading up to the Cranford-Graves Fire Services Building in Landover Hills.
Fire Chief Bashoor described the scene this way, "This large, nearly 100 year old tree crushed several cars and temporarily cutoff vehicular access to the County EOC. The DCAO for Public Safety, Homeland Security Director, Fire Chief, and about 40 other officials were safe inside the EOC - albeit working on generator power."

Apparently, a lesson was learned the hard way that EOC workers are not immune from incidents of damage while working to serve citizens that are dealing with the same frustrations. The incident served to remind us why we were there.

Attached picture, by Fire Chief Bashoor, shows fallen tree (cut), damaged vehicle and the Fire Services Building in the background.