Davie County officials credit emergency response partners after winter storms

Davie County leaders on Tuesday credited local and state partners for emergency operations during recent winter weather, highlighting shelters, transportation assistance and interagency coordination.

County Manager Brian Barnett summarized the county’s response, thanking the National Guard for transport assistance, the county’s DOT crews for clearing roads, Duke Energy for coordination and volunteer fire departments, EMS and public health for supporting shelter operations. "This was a really good test run for what we, our capabilities," Barnett said, describing the event as a large-scale emergency operation outside of the COVID period.

Fire Marshal and emergency management staff Cameron Webb provided operational detail, saying the county had 13 official missions with the National Guard and distributed staff and resources to ensure sheltering and continuity for residents. Webb said emergency management opened the operations center, coordinated transportation and noted there were only two reported outages during the event.

Barnett and Webb both praised county staff across departments — 911, sheriff’s office, detention, EMS, public utilities, Health and Human Services and general services — for their work. Barnett said the county will hold a follow-up meeting to identify improvements and thanked volunteers and municipal partners for collaboration.

The county manager’s written monthly report (distributed to commissioners) also referenced standard consent items on the agenda, including budget amendments and a resolution to negotiate a contract for the Health and Human Services building site work, which the board later approved.

The commissioners thanked staff and volunteers during commissioner comments and adjourned the meeting.