Efforts continue to repair damage and remove downed trees in several northern Wisconsin counties, after severe storms and strong winds in early July toppled trees over more than 130,000 acres across the region. Now, the Wisconsin Army National Guard is planning to lend a hand to help in the recovery.
Members of the 724th Engineer Battalion will be deploying to the region this coming weekend for a training mission that will last through the end of the month. Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Guthrie, a spokeswoman with the Guard, says about 64 soldiers are expected to be on the scene.
Guthrie says members of the battalion finished a deployment in Iraq earlier this year, and will be using many of those skills to repair roads and remove debris left behind by storms. The Guard unit will be concentrating its efforts on storm damage in Burnett and Douglas counties.
Guthrie says the trip there will be a short one for most members of the unit, since many of them are from the area. She says most will be just trading their regular clothes for uniforms as they head out to help their communities remove debris that’s blocking roads and causing fire hazards.
