Published: April 12, 2009 03:54 pm      

Church, volunteers respond to emergency

DUNCAN — Mullins Baptist Association’s emergency response team was activated at about 4 p.m. Thursday to assist with the needs of both the victims of Thursday’s raging grass fires in the Velma area and the firefighters who were in the field.

Shelley Morcom, a spokesperson for the MBA, said volunteers from the Cowboy Church that meets at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center pitched in to make sandwiches both for those who took refuge at the fairgrounds and to take to the fire scene.

“Because of the heavy traffic, we did not take our feeding trailer, but 12 to 15 people responded in their individual vehicles. Dan Fuller, our zone coordinator from Oklahoma City, came down to help direct our efforts.

“We went first to the fairgrounds, then later to the Velma Town Hall. Dan and some of the other volunteers actually went out into the field to supply food and water for the firefighters. The scene was horrible — fires blazing on both sides of the road. Most of us left around midnight, but Dan and some of the others were still on the scene after that,” she said.

The MBA and its trained disaster volunteers were called on again Friday afternoon to go to back to Velma Town Hall, Morcom said, this time, taking their fully equipped feeding trailer with full kitchen facilities.

“We plan to start feeding supper about 5:30 p.m. They told us to prepare for 250 or more people,” she said at 2:45 p.m.

The volunteers are able to mobilize on short notice after they are activated by a call from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. In addition to training and supplies for feeding large crowds, the MBA also has a chainsaw unit ready to help with rescue efforts or to clear debris from roads in areas hit by disasters of any kind.

In time of crisis, churches have traditionally provided assistance to communities in need, not just to their own members.

Thursday afternoon, the flames got within a couple of miles of Ray of Hope Church at U.S. Highway 81 and Refinery Road in the Meridian Community, but did no damage to the building. Smoke was heavy in the area, however.

The church opened its doors to about 27 residents of Meridian Nursing Home, along with staff members and some residents’ families after flames threatened the nursing home, said Melonie Fisher, office manager and secretary to Mike McCord, pastor.

“We were glad we could help. They left about 7:30 or 8 p.m., when it was safe for them to go back to the nursing home,” Fisher said Friday morning.

The Passion plays the church was presenting Saturday and today would go on as scheduled, she said.

As of mid-morning Friday, she had not heard of any members of the church family who had lost their homes, but the congregation’s prayers were with the community, she said.