Volunteer workers kept busy in Bollinger County

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The 25 volunteers with Marble Hill Fire and Rescue have been 18-hour days since Monday's ice storm hit Southeast Missouri.

"That doesn't count calls that come in when they're on the way home," said Tom Bennie at the Marble Hill Fire and Rescue Command Center set up at city hall. Volunteers often have been detoured from their drives home to assist residents in need, he said.

On Thursday, workers were waiting for a water shipment from the National Guard. Bennie said the water was to come in 45-gallon jugs, and volunteers will distribute it to residents who call in their need.

Bennie said the fire and rescue have responded to one house fire since the ice storm and most of their calls are medical responses. He said stranded residents call the command center if they're in need of medicine or other items and rescuers are making deliveries.

"We're willing to deliver fuel and food if they work it out so items are already paid for," he said.

Bennie said conditions were improving throughout the county, with 60 to 70 percent of the affected area cleared. Crews worked all day Wednesday to clear downed trees, he said, and Thursday the bulldozer crews began breaking the ice off roads and clearing paths large enough for emergency vehicles and utility crews to get through.