CHESTER — Matthew Wilson, Chester’s fire chief, also operates the town’s swift water rescue, floodwater rescue, and technical rope rescue team. In addition to serving Chester, the crew has a memorandum of understanding with the state to serve southern Vermont more broadly.
Wilson said his team had performed about 30 rescues and a number of evacuations in the most recent flooding, working in Chester, Cavendish, Ludlow, Andover and elsewhere.
“Our rivers are small around here, but Irene was an eye opener for us. Chester was an island,” Wilson said. “Nobody could get to us.”
After the tropical storm, Chester invested heavily in its swiftwater crew, sending staff to extensive training as far away as California and Colorado in order to prepare for future flood events.
All of that training paid off this week, Wilson said.
“My team performed, I would say, perfectly,” he said. “We train a lot in this. So it kind of comes second nature.”
Around 3 a.m. on Monday, Wilson’s team performed 13 rescues and an evacuation at the Horseshoe Acres campground in Andover, he said. The team had also rescued people in the vicinity of Marshall Road and Route 103 in Chester, according to Wilson.
“It was high-intensity water,” Wilson said of the week’s challenges. “We had it all.”
On Wednesday, Wilson said he’d given his crew the day off. But with more rain in the forecast, he predicted that they’d be needed soon.
“After my meeting with emergency management we just had, it looks like we’re going to be back in station at some point tomorrow,” Wilson said. “I would imagine more deployments later tomorrow evening and into Friday.”
