By Marla Jones, Managing Editor • marla@southerntorch.com

PHOTO (L to R): Lt. Josh Jennings, FF Ryan Hambrick, FF Caleb White, FF Dallas Blansit, and Sgt. Ben West (Photo submitted by Eric Middlebrooks)

PRATTVILLE, Ala. — In response to the pending landfall of Hurricane Sally, a Category 1 hurricane, the Fort Payne Fire Department sent five employees to Prattville to help respond to the storm. The employees are part of the North Alabama Task Force 3, specializing in swift water rescue. 

Sally is pounding parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast with rain, but the hurricane may not make landfall until early Wednesday morning. If landfall is made in Alabama, it will be the first hurricane to make landfall since 2004.

The Fort Payne Surface and Swift Water Rescue team will be dispatched along with other operational teams throughout the state and in parts of Mississippi, as their services are needed.