As tree limbs crashed onto powerlines throughout the night of Jan. 24, the temperature in thousands of Lafayette County homes fell. By the morning, University of Mississippi students and Oxford locals alike were seeking warmth, and a rapid mobilization of county workers, city employees and volunteers prepared multiple warming shelters for the Lafayette-Oxford-University (LOU) community.
In the early hours of the near-blackout, fire stations offered immediate warmth for those who needed it most, according to Lafayette County’s public information officer, Beau Moore.
“In our emergency response plans, we already have our county fire departments designated as warming centers in the event of an emergency like this,” Moore said. “These stations are not manned 24 hours a day so we (had) to get people there to man it and open it up.”
Soon, though, officials realized the historic ice storm would require larger warming centers. The Lafayette County School District quickly offered up their arena and later the Lafayette Elementary School due to power constraints.
“Jay Foster, the superintendent of Lafayette County Schools, was a great person and immediately made the school available for us,” Moore said. “The cafeteria staff came in to cook meals, and it was just really a great partnership between the county and the county school system.”
The staff of the Oxford Conference Center joined with city employees to open a warming center that sheltered hundreds at its peak. The city’s director of staff development, Holly Tubbs, knew a large relief effort would be needed after a night of hearing tree limbs fall nonstop.
“I did not expect it to be as bad as it was, but the night the storm did hit, I knew just waking up from it,” Tubbs said. “It sounded like a war zone outside.”
Tubbs and the conference center’s director, Micah Quinn, helped to turn a ballroom into a temporary home for an estimated 300 people. Along with city employee Braxton Tullos, the three managed to open mere hours after learning the center would be used.
“We were kind of going by the seat of our pants,” Quinn said. “(After) that one first night, we realized what we’re doing, what we need and just figuring it out as we went.”
With the warming center established, Quinn soon began to receive help from community members eager to volunteer. A group of UM students who volunteered their babysitting services particularly stood out to her.
“The students really stepped up with volunteer roles,” Quinn said. “We had some girls sign up just to help babysit the children that were here and keep them occupied and kind of give their parents a break.”
Owens said one of the students even brought in clothes and baby supplies for a newborn staying at the shelter. Tubbs and Quinn highlighted the spirit of community they witnessed at the warming center.
“We just had so many people willing to help, and all departments of the city came up and helped us with the center,” Quinn said. “We had tons of volunteers by the end of it, so I feel like we had a great support system here to keep it running.”
Alongside volunteers, emergency responders played a large role in assisting the community’s warming centers. County sheriff’s deputies and city police officers safely transported citizens over icy roads to the warming centers.
When Moore bought 100 biscuits from Waffle House to pass out to sheriff’s deputies, he said most were too busy assisting in relief efforts to stop for food.
“None of them would meet up with me to get biscuits because they were out there still working and helping people, getting them to warming shelters,” Moore said.
Moore estimated that some deputies likely worked 24-hour shifts in the days following Storm Fern’s impact.
The warming centers’ biggest asset wasn’t their ability to run a central heating system — it was the people who showed up for their community. Cafeteria workers cooked free meals; conference center employees became shelter managers; warming center residents volunteered at the very center they were living in. Rain or shine or ice, the LOU community continues to show unbridled strength in times of adversity.
