County Administrator, PIO, & 9 MCFR Deploy to DeSoto County for Hurricane Ian Recovery

​Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi, Public Information Officer Kristen Livengood, and nine Monroe County Fire Rescue firefighter/paramedics and EMTs traveled to Hurricane Ian-devastated DeSoto County to work in the Emergency Operation Center and the community.
 
The nine firefighter/paramedic and EMTs are Andrea Thompson, Shelby Bosserman, Alex Baguer, Matthew Hill, Elizabeth Jacoby, Andre Castro, John Baird, Angel Chang-del Cuerto, and Morgan Anderson.
 
Gastesi supported DeSoto County Administrator Mandy Hines with lessons learned from Hurricane Irma, Livengood trained the county’s PIO in handling media inquiries and press conferences, and Monroe County Fire Rescue continues to work out of Station 1, supporting the operational and safety needs of the community.
 
Before the storm made landfall, the State’s Public Information liaison reached out to Livengood to see her availability. Gastesi and fire rescue followed closely behind.
 
“Just as the other county’s supported us during Hurricane Irma, we are paying it forward and supporting them now,” Gastesi said. DeSoto sent resources to Monroe County during Hurricane Irma, even though they also took a hit from the storm. “It is an incredible experience to see how other counties do things. It makes us more prepared when we have a storm of that magnitude and sets us up as being good neighbors to our Florida counterparts.”