1 October 2024
SUPERIOR — Two Superior Fire Department members traveled to western North Carolina on Friday, Sept. 27, with Wisconsin’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force to assist in response and recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
“What they’re doing is they’re mostly out on rivers and then searching areas that are inaccessible by land,” said Superior Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht, “so they’re taking inflatable crafts with their motors and they’re motoring up these rivers and they’re checking homes and other areas, looking for folks in inaccessible areas, and then providing aid when they can.”
He called the flooding “catastrophic.”
Vollbrecht said they sent photos of a large highway bridge “completely covered up with flooding debris — trees, parts of homes, things like that.”
The 16-member task force includes firefighters from throughout Wisconsin. Vollbrecht said he could not publicly share the names of the members from Superior. The other 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 swiftwater rescue. They brought equipment and supplies from Wisconsin, including boats, water-rescue gear and communications equipment, according to a news release from Wisconsin Emergency Management.
This marks the first time Superior firefighters have traveled out of state with the task force on a disaster response, Vollbrecht said. The team trains quarterly at Volk Field Air National Guard Base near Tomah.
There hasn’t been much communication from the Superior firefighters due to the lack of cellphone and internet access in the area affected by the hurricane.
“It’s kind of a rural, mountainous area and a lot of these areas are completely cut off due to flooding so roads, rivers and bridges and things like that are washed out. So that’s where they’ve been working,” Vollbrecht said. “Sounds like they’ve been in good spirits. They’ve been working long days, but they’re getting their rest when they’re getting some downtime.”
North Carolina requested the task force through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a nationwide mutual aid system.
They requested the team for seven days, but the duration of the stay can change based on need. The team brought enough supplies for 14 days, Vollbrecht said.
The state of Wisconsin will pay for the response and be reimbursed with Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars, Vollbrecht said.
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