Ambulances and crew members from the Waterbury Ambulance Service and the Mad River Valley Ambulance Service covered Barre City Fire Department and EMS crews from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. last weekend, July 14 -16, to allow crews from Barre City to catch their breath and get some rest after last week’s flooding.
“Barre City’s EMS crews were working really hard and were pretty tired. They asked WASI if we’d help cover some time last weekend. We provided a truck and crew to help them get some relief,” said Maggie Burke, director of Waterbury Ambulance Service. She noted that WASI still had a truck and crews for its own service area.
“We reached out to MRVAS to see if they could cover a portion of those shifts and their volunteers did,” she said.
“We were grateful for the opportunity to go and help out our neighbors. It’s what anyone would do under these circumstances. Barre City EMS is a really strong organization and we were honored that they’d call and ask us for help,” Burke said.
“Barre City had a substantial amount of flooding, mudslides, flooded homes, and destroyed infrastructure. Barre City Fire Department, which includes an ambulance service, has been out straight for over a week responding to emergencies, inspecting buildings, assessing damage, and pumping out basements. They needed a break,” added Bob Bower, MRVAS assistant training officer.
“WASI provided an ambulance and crew on Friday. Maggie reached out to us on Friday evening to see if MRVAS could help. I worked with WASI on Saturday to fill out their crew and MRVAS provided coverage on Sunday,” Bower noted.
He thanks the MRVAS crew that helped out in Barre.
