Gladwyne Firefighters Honored for Water Rescue Efforts

Three Gladwyne firefighters who'll receive township honors Feb. 1 recalled the stormy September night when they and many other emergency workers risked their lives to save six people from flooding in Whitemarsh Township.

In December, Whitemarsh also honored the men: assistant fire chiefs Chip McLean, John Remillard and Michael Schwarz, who were in action from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sept. 8, 2011.

“I’m proud of my guys—they did a great job,” Chief Blaine Leis said. “They made a difference.”

'Mayday'

Just two weeks after Hurricane Irene, a storm hit the area where the ground was already saturated.

, and there were several calls for water rescues in Lower Merion Township.

And in the early morning hours, a team of Gladwyne firefighters headed to Whitemarsh to serve as backup for a water rescue already in progress at Stenton Avenue. A man’s car had become submerged, and he’d climbed onto the roof.

As soon as the Gladwyne firefighters arrived, they heard a firefighter screaming “mayday.”

“When fellow firefighters are in danger and fearing life, it’s stressful both physically and mentally,” Leis said. “It’s the most horrific thing a firefighter can hear on the radio.”

“Your heart stops,” added Schwarz, who is in charge of water rescues and had been on the same street a week prior for a similar operation.

Stenton Avenue

The boat that had begun the initial rescue was up against the fencing, taking on water and in danger of capsizing, Remillard explained.

“The mayday call forced us to go into immediate service,” he said. “It just so happens we were immediately able to respond.” 

Schwarz, Remillard and McLean hand-launched their boat just before 5 a.m. It seemed heavier than ever as they moved it toward the six or seven feet of fast-moving water.

With Schwarz piloting the boat, they used the current and the thrust of the motor to work their way to the first rescue boat. When they pulled up, the first boat was immediately pulled under water.

They got back to safe ground and checked their equipment before traversing back to rescue the civilian, still perched atop the roof of his car. The first rescue boat had only gotten about one quarter of the way there.

“It was like something out of a movie,” Schwarz said. “He was flashing his flashlight at us.” 

When they got to the man, they didn’t see the car. It looked like he was sitting on top of the water. But bringing that man to safety was just the beginning of their night.

Lafayette Avenue

They then headed to assist Barren Hill Fire Co. with another water rescue operation on Lafayette Avenue in Whitemarsh, a couple miles away.

A man driving down that road was swept away into a thick wooded area, which was now in six or seven feet of water, Remillard said. He climbed a tree and clung to it. 

They’d established verbal contact with the man but had trouble hearing him. He was singing “God Bless America,” McLean said.

“It was too dangerous to commence with a rescue operation,” Remillard said. “It wasn’t a viable rescue.”

They couldn’t see the man, and the darkness, current and location made it impossible to go in after him. They talked to the Coast Guard in Atlantic City about the possibility of sending a helicopter.

Then daylight started to break, the rain stopped and the current began to slow.

They decided they could make an attempt at a rescue, and Remillard, Schwarz and McLean, along with a man from the Norristown Fire Department, were given the go-ahead at 7 a.m. 

They tied their boat to a tree or telephone pole and used the current to draw them toward the man. They stopped the boat and swam 25 or 30 yards to reach the man. He was now very cold and very distressed.

He’d spent two and a half hours clinging to a tree.

Not about individuals

“It was a team effort,” Remillard emphasized. “Every aspect of this story is a team effort.” 

The rescues that night involved multiple agencies and multiple municipalities, Leis said. 

“These are high-risk operations where lives were at risk,” he said. 

Firefighters who found themselves in trouble handled the situation absolutely correctly, Leis added. They told dispatchers where they were, what they needed and the direction of the current.

The danger of water

“We save more people from water rescues than from fires,” Remillard said. “It’s very deceiving.”

By that, he meant they actively saved the lives of six people that night—four other firefighters, and the two civilians in distress. It’s rare they can say the same of fire rescues, when victims are more often than not able to exit their homes of their own accord.

They train every Wednesday night for two and a half to three hours, and one training session a month is devoted to water rescue. The Jan. 25 training was for water rescues involving ice.

“Fire scares people; water doesn’t,” Leis said. “People are not as aware, not as careful. They think they’re driving through a puddle, and it’s four feet of water.”

Anyone at any other firehouse would have done the same thing, they emphasized. Still, the firefighters said, the Stenton Avenue rescue was one of the most intense ones they’ve ever been involved in.

“It was a team effort," Leis said again. "These guys saved people’s lives. They truly did. I asked them, and they said, 'They saved our lives.' There’s a difference between carrying someone out of a puddle and saving lives."