Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — March 18, 2025 — Shortly after an EF-2 tornado ripped through Paragould, members of Jonesboro agencies such as the fire, police and sanitation departments jumped in to help and are continuing to assist in relief efforts.

The Jonesboro Fire Department (JFD) and Jonesboro Police Department (JPD) assisted Friday night and into Saturday morning, while the Sanitation Department deployed Monday morning. Sanitation superintendent Patrick Courtois said he expected the department to continue assistance through Friday.

The Sanitation Department is aiding in the cleanup and transportation of debris. A knuckle boom truck, which the department frequently uses in its Neighborhood Cleanups, has a large arm allowing it to grab debris and then place it in its bed. Debris is then transported to the Greene County landfill.

“All the debris they that they had over there, this knuckle boom truck is able to get on the street and stretch out and pick up the debris,” Courtois said. “Jonesboro and Paragould have a really good relationship and we try to help each other when we can.”

One Sanitation Department worker is running the knuckle boom truck, working 12-hour shifts. Courtois said there were currently no plans to send additional vehicles since Paragould’s mayor Josh Agee only requested the truck.

Requests for aid from neighboring cities are delivered upon request of that city’s mayor. All three department heads said they only received an aid request from Paragould.

“Obviously, if someone needs help, we’re always ready and willing to go help, but we don’t automatically deploy out to those areas. We wait until we get a call for help and then we’ll put a team together,” said JFD chief Martin Hamrick.

JFD helped with rescue and recovery efforts.

“Once the storm cleared, we took a crew, me and the assistant chief and several of our other guys went up and we helped search some of the area, give them a little extra manpower and get that job done safely,” Hamrick said.

He added that the roughly 10-person crew returned to Jonesboro on Saturday around 4 a.m.

During a typical rescue effort, Hamrick said workers usually have a good idea of who’s accounted for and who’s not. He said crews work with that information to assess damaged structures or hazardous areas and then work to remove trapped people.

JPD chief Rick Elliott said he sent six on-duty officers to assist with traffic direction shortly after receiving an assistance request from Paragould.

“Officers just assisted in blocking some roadways, kind of shutting down some areas so search and rescue can check those stricken areas for injuries and things like that. So, it’s kind of a limited role in this case,” Elliott said.

Later, Elliott said he sent roughly 25 SWAT officers. He said these are more “seasoned officers” who serve as JPD’s search and rescue function and have a higher level of medical training to help with traumatic injuries.

Like JFD, Elliott said police officers assisted until about 4 a.m. Saturday, after Paragould first responders said they’d searched through affected areas twice over.

All three department heads said when Jonesboro was hit by an EF-3 tornado in 2020, agencies from surrounding cities helped the city with relief efforts.

“They did the same thing we when had our tornado. We had officers show up in Jonesboro from other agencies around us,” Elliott said. “We set up command at the mall parking lot and I look out and I see police officers and a lot of other agencies represented and they’re eager to help out.”