CARTER COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — There were some tense moments Saturday when volunteers say they witnessed an armed group of people confronting and threatening Federal Emergency Management Agency workers in Tennessee.
Tracy Elder is president and founder of the International Alliance of Community Chaplains. Her group has been working in disaster relief for more than 20 years.
They are in Carter County at the request of the Elk Mills Volunteer Fire Department to help run the command center there, providing supplies and resources for those in need. Elder told NewsNation affiliate WJHL she found herself between FEMA workers and a group of armed citizens criticizing the work of the government agency. Elder was able to diffuse the situation.
“They were all armed, open carry not guns drawn, but they had surrounded them and there was a lady there that was yelling and threatening them,” Elder said.
She explained that she listened to their grievances about FEMA but explained that her organization was not associated with the federal agency. Elder said she felt the group was frustrated and she was able to hear them out but was firm in that the behavior wasn’t appropriate.
“People just need to be heard, and then some of that does take a skill that doesn’t take a confrontation,” Elder said. “I said, ‘hey I hear you. You can say there’s no volunteers but I’m standing right in front of you honey and I’m here and we’re helping.'”
Elder said once the group realized that FEMA wasn’t taking those donations and that the command center was run by volunteers, they left and surprisingly returned later with supplies to donate.
During the confrontation Elder did call 911 because she said they weren’t being rational.
“I don’t care what their beef is with the FEMA, that’s not my job. My job on this ground is to take care of the folks here,” Elder told WJHL.
Because of the bridges washed out in the community, the area is now a now a much longer drive from the sheriff’s department in Elizabethton, accessible only through Johnson County or North Carolina. That doesn’t sit well with Carter County Sheriff Mike Fraley, and that’s why he’s working to get a sub-station up and running at the site of the now-washed-away fire department. There, two deputies will be stationed 24 hours a day where they’ll work and sleep.
Fraley says he suspected the group is from North Carolina and according to other sheriffs he’s spoken to, they’ve been causing these problems on both sides of the state line and it’s unacceptable.
“Those FEMA workers, they’re here to help and if you don’t want FEMA’s help, politely tell them so, but they’re human beings just like we are,” Fraley said.
Despite the confrontation, a FEMA representative told WJHL that FEMA will still be in the region working with those impacted by the flooding as the recovery process continues.