Vancouver HUSAR team returns after helping in Calgary
Posted July 3, 2013 6:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver Assistant Fire Chief Jim Young is back at home after spending five days in Calgary helping flood victims.
Young and his Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team got to work immediately once they arrived.
“We basically went house-to-house helping the local citizens pump out debris,” says the veteran firefighter.
Not an easy task considering some buildings had car garages completely flooded to the roof, cars still inside.
Despite the tough time, Young says Calgarians smiled in the face of adversity. “They’re all covered in mud with smiles on their faces, and people pulling coolers full of cold pop and water. They’re really a resilient group of people there and they’re fighting back and moving on.”
The team had been in Calgary since Thursday night.
He says they immediately integrated themselves with fire and rescue crews there and got to work doing a number of different tasks.
“It’s not only cleaning up all the damaged structures but it’s the erosion that’s created by the water flow and all the mud and silt it leaves behind,” he explains.
He says some scenes were worse than others. “We found five-level parkades that were full of water so that’s a daunting task to pump those out and they’re still full of cars and you search those for potential victims.”
Young is praising the spirit of the people of Calgary and says their will to persevere never wavered and helped lift his spirits.
He is urging the federal government to continue funding to the team.
