The Swan Valley Fire Department (SVFD) members are trained for not just fires, but overall emergency response. When the flooding hit the Valley, the calls for help came in.
“Our members are trained by courses provided to us by the Manitoba Emergency Services College in Brandon,” said SVFD Fire Chief Darren Fedorchuk.
“The first call for help came on June 8 at 7:11 a.m. and to date we have been dispatched to seven calls involving overland flooding and one mutual aid assist request from EMS. We received multiple calls for people trapped or isolated because of the overland flooding. We assisted 26 people with relocating to safe ground and rescued seven people from life-threatening conditions, which included five being trapped in a house surrounded by swift water from the river and two from a partially submerged vehicle.
“Our last call received was on June 10 at 8:29 a.m. to provide assistance to EMS, who requested help accessing a patient,” said Fedorchuk.
SVFD’s first call was to a triple incident which started with a water rescue for people trapped in their home in the Municipality of Swan Valley West. When SVFD arrived on the scene, water was flowing over the road, making it inaccessible by vehicle or foot. The use of the SVFD’s zodiac boat was used to rescue the victims and their pets safely.
A second page came in for another water rescue and SVFD arrived on the scene to find a large portion of the road inaccessible due to water flowing over it. As the crews prepared the Zodiac to be deployed, a local farmer was able to offer the use of his tractor to help get crews safely across to one victim and some animals.
The third call came in shortly after lunch, and it was for another water rescue, but for multiple victims trapped by flood waters. Upon arrival, SVFD found the road inaccessible due to water running over the road. The Zodiac was put into place, but had limitations given the condition of the shallow water in the field and ditches. Luckily, another farmer with a sprayer was able to help the crew out with victim rescue and multiple trips were made to take victims to safety.
Later that day, SVFD received another call for a water rescue for people who were stuck in a car in flood waters on Hwy. No. 83. The Zodiac was deployed and crews were able to rescue the two victims. While finishing that call, another one came in to rescue people who were trapped on Pretty Valley Road (P.R. No. 486). Once again, the Zodiac was used to rescue three individuals who were inspecting flood waters in the area and got cut off.
The next day, another call came in to retrieve a person from their property in the Municipality of Swan Valley West. The crew arrived on scene at the intersection of Hwy. No. 83 and Pretty Valley Road. The Zodiac was portaged closer to the incident location and a strategic method of rescue was planned out. The victim was rescued and reunited with their family.
No injuries were reported and the SVFD urge people not to attempt to drive through any flood waters or risk going into areas that are currently not safe, because you don’t know what is under the water.
Fedorchuk is familiar with responding to flooding, but has never experienced anything of this magnitude before. There were some difficult challenges to overcome with some of the rescues, but thanks to the assistance of others, those rescues were successful.
“In my time as fire chief, this is the most overland flooding I have seen in our response area,” said Fedorchuk.
“The hardest challenges were accessing where we had to be since roads were rapidly deteriorating, accessing areas that were too swift to cross by foot but too shallow for the rescue boat and portaging the rescue boat when we had to.”