Westover Fire Department assists in tornado response

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. James Bishop and 2nd Lt. Andre Bowser
  • 439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  The fire department here responded to a mutual aid call at 7:29 p.m. June 1 after at least two tornadoes left widespread damage in 19 communities in central and western Massachusetts.

The initial request was for a specialized rescue unit and one officer for an Incident Management Team.

"Our response is based on a mutual aid agreement between Westover and 40 neighboring towns, and we're always glad to help," said Col. Robert Swain, Jr., 439th Airlift Wing Commander. "This is part of being a good neighbor."

Westover responded with four firefighters and one fire chief. Westover Fire Chief Charles Van Gorden was assigned to the Area Command in Palmer, Mass., to assist with coordination of emergency resources. The rescue team was initially assigned to Palmer, but re-directed to West Springfield to assist with a damaged nursing home. The team assisted with search and rescue of several areas throughout the night and also performed a victim extraction from a damaged minivan. Chief Van Gorden and the rescue unit worked until 3:30 a.m.

The rescue team members who responded on Wednesday were Capt. Robert Guthrie and firefighters David Wilkinson, Nicholas Bush, and Mark Litchfield.

Captain Guthrie said one thing was on his mind during the rescue operation: "Getting us out there in one piece." He said traversing a windy and dangerous terrain made his job difficult.

"You couldn't see; it was bad," Guthrie said about his team responding to multiple locations during the worst of the storms, usually heading in the opposite direction of fleeing motorists.

By 7 a.m. Thursday, Chief Van Gorden was back in the Area Command center coordinating rescue and recovery efforts. Four new firefighters reported to Monson, Mass., to assist with continuing rescue efforts.

Crews were still on-scene Thursday afternoon doing house-to-house search and rescue in Monson. Firefighters at Thursday's search and rescue mission were Capt. Robert Mancini, and firefighters Kenneth McMorris Jr., Roy Cooley, and Shawn Martin.

Westover firefighters, who specialize in battling flightline blazes, are no strangers to responding to structure fires off base. In August, they responded to a fire in Holyoke in which three municipal firefighters were injured. In March, they responded to a fire at a Chicopee factory.