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  • A member of the swift water rescue team tries to navigate the water Piney Creek Sunday during the search for a missing fireman. Rick Barbero

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  • A member of the swift water rescue team has trouble using a raft in Piney Creek to get to an island as the search continues for the missing fireman. Rick Barbero

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March 14, 2010

Search continues for missing firefighter

By Amelia A. Pridemore Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — While dozens of emergency services personnel continued the search Sunday for a missing firefighter who disappeared after the rescue boat he was working in capsized Saturday, many Raleigh County residents spent their day cleaning up water, sludge and debris as authorities worked to officially determine how much flood damage has been done.

Marty Agee, deputy director of the Raleigh County Emergency Services Center, said firefighters, National Park Service rangers and state National Guard troops were all involved in the search. They discontinued the foot search overnight Saturday but stayed out all night to monitor the river and resumed at daybreak Sunday.

Agee said the search area will likely be expanded.

While touring the hardest-hit areas Saturday, Gov. Joe Manchin said the missing firefighter from the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department in Kanawha County was part of a swift water rescue team working in the Beaver area. He and two others were in a boat when the motor struck a piece of submerged material.

The governor said the motor’s power went out and that the boat drifted away and capsized. The other two team members made it to safety.

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Raleigh County was slammed late Friday night and early Saturday with flooding from a combination of torrential rain and lingering piles of snow on already saturated ground. The National Weather Service estimates about three inches of rain fell in Beckley between 7 a.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday. The storm left one woman dead.

The confirmed fatality occurred early Saturday when a woman parked her car in the North Sandbranch Road area and tried to reach her residence on foot, Agee said. Her body was later recovered.

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The American Red Cross was working to assess damage Sunday. Until that is over, there is no official number of houses damaged or destroyed.

The Beaver area, Agee said, was the hardest-hit — “hands down.”

“Recovery is what we’re in right now,” said Agee. “We’re doing damage assessments and figuring out where we go from here.”

Most closed roads have reopened, but state Division of Highways workers were still repairing a bridge on Airport Road in Beaver Sunday, Agee said.

Crews are also working to clear debris from creeks and streams, she said. If that debris that includes old tree limbs and litter is not cleared, it could cause more problems if another heavy rain strikes.

Already existing debris was a likely contributing factor in this storm, she said. The main factors of the storm created a severe situation, as it was, but the debris also blocked some culverts.

“It surely didn’t help,” Agee said.

Agee said she anticipates Manchin will declare a state of emergency in Raleigh County. Basically, the formal paperwork is pending. Manchin toured the hard-hit areas Saturday with Jimmy Gianato, director of the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

However, meteorologists from the National Weather Service had positive news to report.

Tom Mazza, a meteorologist for the NWS in Charleston, said Sunday that creeks, streams and rivers have already crested and should begin receding. He said light rain and drizzle will continue through today, but it will not be significant enough to keep high water from falling.

After early Tuesday morning, forecasters say the Beckley area can look forward to dry — even sunny — weather through Saturday. Wednesday and Thursday temperatures should reach the mid-50s, and they should warm to the low 60s for Friday and Saturday.

“It will definitely be settling down,” Mazza said. “There’s no big trouble on the horizon here.”

The drier, warmer weather could have a benefit besides relief for storm-weary southern West Virginians. Mazza said that time should allow the ground to absorb more water and the rivers, creeks and streams to recede further.

Agee said people who need to report damage from water reaching their residence should call the EOC at 304-255-9312. The EOC will need the person’s name, physical address and description of the damage.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com

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