Holmes County sheriff reflects on tough weekend for first responders

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -From heat exhaustion to fatal car accidents, Holmes County Sheriff John Tate is calling the weekend a rough one.

“I’m very proud of the way that we stepped up as far as our first responders,” said Sheriff Tate, our firefighters and EMTs, and medics stepped up to take care of the situation."

The weekend started with a new store opening in a rural part of the county, drawing a large crowd in hot weather.

“Basically, we had several people who were overheated and had to be transported out because of the heat exhaustion,” Tate said.

Saturday afternoon, deputies responded to a fatal car accident.

“We had a bad crash up in the northwest part of our county in the intersection on State Road 81 and County Road 185 where a 12-year-old was killed in a car wreck,” Tate said.

Sunday, there was another fatal accident at the same intersection.

“We had another fatality at the same intersection where a 21-year-old was killed,” said Sheriff Tate, “five or six patients in that accident that had to be transported, either by air or ambulance.”

While these events were unfolding, other calls were still coming in. Sheriff Tate said neighboring agencies, as well as off-duty first responders, came in to help.

“Holmes County is very resilient. When things hit the fan, then people come out, and they show up to work,” said Sheriff Tate, “you don’t have to call and beg them; they’re there.”

Tate said events like these can take an emotional toll on first responders.

“First responders are human just like everybody else, and things took a toll on them, especially if they got kids that age seeing stuff like that,” said Sheriff Tate. “The next day, the same first responders that responded to that one Saturday had to respond to the one Sunday.”

Sheriff Tate said his thoughts and prayers are with the families that lost loved ones.

He also thanked everyone who stepped up over the weekend, including the neighboring agencies that assisted in the response. Counselors were available at the Sheriff’s Office Monday morning for first responders who needed support.

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