{"id":25810,"date":"2022-09-30T21:35:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T01:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=25810"},"modified":"2022-09-30T21:35:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T01:35:43","slug":"sheriff-grady-judd-sent-first-responders-to-fort-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2022\/09\/30\/sheriff-grady-judd-sent-first-responders-to-fort-myers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheriff Grady Judd sent first responders to Fort Myers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the caravan of sheriff\u2019s deputy vehicles pulled away, their sirens screamed the welcoming sound that help is on the way. That\u2019s the message and the mission of more than two dozen Polk County deputies, firefighters, paramedics, and dispatchers on their way to storm victims in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A caravan nicknamed \u201cThe Grady Train<\/em><\/strong>\u201d made up of more than two dozen first responders is helping with Hurricane Ian’s recovery in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheriff\u2019s Detective Michael Branch was quick to volunteer to be one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI signed up with Polk County many years ago to assist and face whatever tragedy comes across,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s in my DNA, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead of solving crimes, for the next week and a half, Branch will be answering prayers, navigating an airboat to help those helpless to save what they had from the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can travel on land and obviously on water (with the airboat)\u201d, he said. \u201cPreferably skinny water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a pep talk and a prayer from a proud sheriff, the caravan, nicknamed \u201cThe Grady Train<\/em><\/strong>\u201d is taking all it needs to help, not hinder the recovery efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got commercial fryers, ovens, stove, grill, flat top, steam table serving window in the back,\u201d said Sheriff\u2019s Lt. Paul Wright. \u201cWe take 100% of what we need to maintain for so long. We\u2019re there to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Branch is also taking hopes and prayers that are very personal. He has extended family in the Fort Myers area \u2014 uncles and aunts who he hasn\u2019t heard from since Wednesday. For him, this is more than his duty. It\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got family and friends praying for our safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the caravan of sheriff\u2019s deputy vehicles pulled away, their sirens screamed the welcoming sound that help is on the way. That\u2019s the message and the mission of more than… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[3573],"class_list":["post-25810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-sheriff-grady-judd-sent-first-responders-to-fort-myers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}