Delaware swift water team aids North Carolina storm recovery
A team of 14 specially trained Delaware firefighters has wrapped up a search-and-rescue mission in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The Delaware Swift Water Rescue Team packed up its gear and left North Carolina Oct. 3, after five days of helping recovery efforts.
Two team members are from Sussex County, one each from the Bethany Beach and Georgetown fire companies.
Delaware Emergency Management Agency and the Delaware State Fire School deployed the unit to Avery County, N.C., Sept. 28. Avery County is a rural area northeast of Asheville.
“This is a big deal for us,” said Tucker Dempsey, state fire school director. “We’ve been working on this for years with training and grants from Homeland Security through DEMA. We’re glad we could go down and help.”
All team members are safe, Dempsey said.
Dempsey said the team performed multiple rescues and cleared a campground of possible victims.
Helene pounded the mountains of western North Carolina Sept. 26, with flash floods and powerful winds. The overall death toll from the storm is now more than 190.
Dempsey said the Swift Water Rescue Team took boats from the Delaware State Fire School, instead of those from local fire companies. He said the school has only had those boats for six months.
He said one team member is a drone pilot and took the fire school’s drone.
“They have been using the drone to get reconnaissance shots ahead of the team going into hard-to-access areas,” Dempsey said.
He said they have been helping in any way they can.
“One guy was able to get internet restarted in an emergency center. He was also able to fix a generator and restore hot water to a fire station where they were staying,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey said most of the training for the Swift Water Rescue Team was done at the state fire school in Dover. He said some individual members may have taken classes at the location adjacent to Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown.
DEMA’s Michael O’Malley is also working in the Oconee County Emergency Operations Center in South Carolina on a 14-day assignment.
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper talked about the devastation in North Carolina at the Lewes Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner Oct. 1.
Carper said his wife, Martha, is from Boone, N.C., which is not far from where the Delaware Swift Water Rescue Team was deployed.
He said they talked to his wife’s brother on the way to the dinner about the recovery efforts.
“We’re providing military support and police units from all over the country. We have incredible efforts going on to save lives and help restore power and the economy,” Carper said. “One of the worst things that can happen is to be in that situation.”
