“There isn’t a CD department that didn’t check in right away to find out if they were needed.
“We’re especially lucky to have the U. S. Forest Service (the big slide happened in the Beaverhead National Forest) in our area. Their experience and constantly organized readiness to meet the threat of forest fires right now makes them an ideal outfit for any emergency. Forest Service firefighting squads, transport, equipment, and information about the area are all set up to move in a matter of minutes. They’re most adaptable to the kind of crisis the earthquake threw at us.
“You can tell the Forest Service your problem and quit worrying.
“Another important outfit is the Montana Forestry Department, which is set up to administer and protect the state’s forests. Its boss, Gareth Moon, is head of the CD’s Rural Firefighting Section.
“We have a good, mobile law enforcement outfit in the Montana Highway Patrol. The Montana Fish and Game Dept. men, in emergency, serve as an excellent backwoods force.
“Frank Wiley, Montana Dept. of Aeronautics director and one of the real pioneer pilots who can still fly anything from a jet to a Jenny, took over our flying problems.”
At 8:45 A. M., as part of a CD emergency plan called “Operation Bulldozer,” set up by the Associated General Contractors, Jack Marlowe, secretary of the Montana Contractors’ Assn., had completed a list and location of all heavy construction equipment in the area and reported that all contractors were on standby in case they were needed.
The State Dept. of Health was on the ball, too. They were moving in personnel to test water in Ennis, West Yellowstone and throughout the quake area by 9:00 the morning after the quake.
At 9:15 word came in that the Red Cross was flying in emergency personnel from the west coast.
Potter was thrilled by the offers of help that kept CD HQ phones busy. General Keith R. Barney of the Army Corps of Engineers called offering any help needed. The governors of Idaho and Wyoming and three Canadian provinces asked if there was anything they could do. Idaho’s highway patrol actually came up and helped keep things under control in the West Yellowstone area.