When a tornado blew down the camp where a group of Boy Scouts were staying for a conference, the Scouts used their skills to help their fellow troops survive.
As most of us know, the Boy Scouts of America have a long-standing slogan: Be prepared. So when 93 young Scouts arrived for a one-week leadership training conference at a camp near Blencoe, Iowa last Monday, they were ready to learn the necessary skills to deal with any emergency. They just weren’t expecting to use them so soon.
That Wednesday, a ferocious tornado swept through the area, tearing down a building on the Scout’s campsite. When the storm finally ended, 48 people on the site had been injured, and tragically, four boys were killed. But the remaining Scouts knew they had to work hard to keep everyone safe and to care for their injured friends.
Immediately, the troop members and leaders began looking for people with injuries, using the tools in their first aid kits to provide whatever help they could until medical assistance arrived. “We knew that we needed to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we needed to apply pressure and gauze. We had first aid kits, we had everything,” a 13-year-old Scout, Ethan Hession, told ABC News.
The number of casualties in the camp might have been far higher if the Boy Scouts hadn’t already known what to do. “They go through tornado drills when they’re out at camp, and they have predesignated areas, low spots to go to,” said Bruce Van Zuiden, a scoutmaster. Fortunately, the boys remembered what they’d been taught, and many were able to stay out of harm’s way and provide aid to their fellow troops.
While there may not be a badge for Tornado Survival Skills, the incident has definitely left a big impression on the heroic Scouts. “I think if I can survive a tornado, I can pretty much survive anything right now,” 14-year-old Zach Jessen told Good Morning, America.