New Market Swiftwater Crews Deploy to West Virginia Floods
By Captain Matthew Thews
June 3, 2018
On Sunday June 3rd, crews in the panhandle of West Virginia found themselves facing rising waters due to additional rain and the Potomac River rising above flood stage. This led to numerous rescues and incidents in that region and local resources were quickly drained. Boat 15 and Utility 15 (Sgt. Chapman) deployed just after lunch time with 5 volunteers after feilding a request for assistance. The crew spent the next couple hours staging at Berkeley Springs VFC before running multiple calls. There were three rescues performed by the initial Co. 15 crew, mostly involving vehicles in high water. The crew swapped out for fresh personnel led by Lt. Williamson at 2130 hours. The night crew performed one rescue after midnight when a vehicle was swamped and swept from the roadway. The crew performed a difficult water crossing to rescue the occupant on the roof of the car. The swiftwater crew returned to New Market at 0930 hours on Monday. They were tired, but grateful to provide assistance to our neighbors in West Virginia.
Day Crew: Sgt. Chapman Sgt. White FF3 Eaves FF3 Berger FFI Klingensmith
