October 1 – SUPERIOR – Two members of the Superior Fire Department traveled to western North Carolina on Friday, September 27, with the Wisconsin Urban Search and Rescue Task Force to assist in the response and recovery efforts that followed.
Hurricane Helene.
“What they do is they’re usually on rivers and then they search areas that are inaccessible by land,” said Chief Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht, “so they take inflatable craft with their engines and they ride these rivers and they check houses and other areas , searching for people in inaccessible areas and then offering help when they can.
He called the flooding “catastrophic.”
Vollbrecht said they sent photos of a major highway bridge “completely covered in flood debris – trees, parts of houses, things like that.”
The 16-member task force is made up of firefighters from across Wisconsin. Vollbrecht said he could not publicly share the names of Superior’s members. The remaining task force members come from fire departments in Appleton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Janesville, La Crosse, Neenah/Menasha and Oshkosh.
The team specializes in rapid water rescue operations. They brought equipment and supplies from Wisconsin, including boats, water rescue equipment and communications equipment, according to a news release from Wisconsin Emergency Management.
This is the first time Superior firefighters have left the state for an emergency response with the task force, Vollbrecht said. The team trains quarterly at Volk Field Air National Guard Base near Tomah.
There hasn’t been much communication from Superior firefighters due to the lack of cell phone and internet access in the hurricane-affected area.
“It’s kind of a rural, mountainous area and a lot of these areas have been completely cut off by flooding, which has washed away roads, rivers, bridges and things like that. So they’ve been working on that,” Vollbrecht said. “It sounds like they’re in a good mood. They’ve been working long hours, but when they get some rest, they get some rest.”
North Carolina requested the task force through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a nationwide mutual aid system.
They asked the team for seven days, but the length of stay may vary depending on the need. The team brought enough supplies to last a fortnight, Vollbrecht said.
The state of Wisconsin will pay for the response and be reimbursed with Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars, Vollbrecht said.
