(Read the video transcript here.)
Video Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Gusty winds 20 to 30 miles an hour in the Valley complicating the firefight in the mountains where we’re seeing 60 plus mile an hour winds.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Everything’s on fire. Every single cabin.
Greg Miller (00:36):
We’re dealing with the worst possible conditions imaginable.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
This is just terrible. It’s devastating.
Jerry Wear (01:03):
The biggest reaction was disbelief and then what can we do?
Jerry Wear (01:25):
The community came together and decided we’re going to make it through this. And so everybody pitched in.
Kathy Fulton (01:32):
As soon as the fires happened, we knew that there was going to be a need for logistic support so we contacted our media partner at Material Handling Wholesaler and placed an article telling people that we were going to need logistic services. We knew forklifts were going to be a big need.
Russ Sharpe (01:49):
The night of the wildfires, watching the coverage on television, it became obvious that this was a disaster that we have never experienced before. Our owner, Theresa Hatmaker, with her support, we decided to find out what we could do. And the next day, an email that I got from Alan, they were looking for help. So we were able to get connected and they said, “We needed forklifts for the cause,” and we had them available.
Jerry Wear (02:15):
In the beginning when we started getting all of these donations from all around the state, and not only this state, but all these other states. We were having trucks coming from Texas and from Florida and Louisiana and Indiana and Ohio and many States, 18 States. We realized we had to have some way to get these trucks unloaded. It was so difficult to do it by hand. So Allied Toyotalift Corporation were willing to donate forklifts to us and we were so grateful because we couldn’t have done our work if it hadn’t been for them, if they weren’t there to help us.
Joni Johnson (02:50):
We provide training for the drivers. We provided transportation to move the forklifts. How can we indicate it a lot with Kathy and Jerry Wear about what was needed, when it was needed, where it was needed. The forklifts were in two separate locations, I believe. So it turned out to be a great, great relationship.
Kathy Fulton (03:11):
Toyota forklift dealers have been hugely generous. Allied Toyotalift has been a joy to work with.
Jerry Wear (03:17):
Allied stepped up at a real opportune time for us. We couldn’t have done what we could have accomplished without the help of our neighboring counties who sent in firemen and police officers and then people like Allied who sent in equipment needed to operate our facility.