Four years after the Jonesboro tornado, firefighters still remember it

Jonesboro, Arkansas – Four years have passed since an EF-3 tornado tore through Jonesboro, destroying homes and damaging a few local businesses.

22 persons were injured by the tornado on March 28, 2020, according to emergency personnel. Many were also left without a place to live.

Lucas Luster, a driver with the Jonesboro Fire Department, was one of them. He has a clear memory of that day from four years ago.

He informed his family over the phone that a storm was moving into Jonesboro.

Luster said his family was unaware of the severity of the situation. After the tornado made landfall, they continued to monitor it.

“Ryan Vaughan was staying with it, which is great because I had no idea. So, I called my family as soon as he said it was headed northeast,” Luster said.

After that, Luster phoned his wife and instructed her to seek sanctuary for their children.
When the tornado hit, he heard it smash windows while speaking with his wife on the phone. After then, the phone died.
Following his conversation with his spouse, Luster was stunned. While attempting to orient himself and choose his next course of action, he received a call from another firefighter.

“They said, look, your house is gone,” Luster said. “But everybody’s alive. Everybody’s okay.”

Luster had to go out and perform his duties as a firefighter after ensuring his family was alright. Marty Hamrick, the fire chief of Jonesboro, also had to do that.

He had to react when he heard about the tornado while watching movies with his family.

“I’m like, hon’, I’ve got to go. I’ve got a job to do, and I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Hamrick said. “Because the way it looked on TV and knowing that part of town it looked like it was going through, we were expecting a lot of injuries and deaths.”

Fortunately, nobody perished in the tornado. As soon as the tornado hit, everyone was on deck.
All four workers were called in by Jonesboro Fire.

First responders were on the go, making sure patients were getting well. By the following day, all of the individuals were present, according to Hamrick. Chief Hamrick claimed that despite the chaos and tragedy of the incident, it has helped the department get ready for more severe weather in the future.

“We definitely have a good game plan now of how we’re going to handle it,” Hamrick added. “The biggest piece is identifying staging areas for all the help that’s going to come in.”

Four years later, Luster is appreciative of his family’s safety and the support of the neighborhood.