BETHEL — Bethel Fire Chief Mike Jodrey said his department answered around two dozen calls in three days, during a devastating storm that hit Maine on Dec. 18.

Jodrey’s department of 12 volunteer firefighters made approximately 27 water-related rescues either by boat or by using a truck to back up to stranded individuals.

An additional nine rescues were made at the trailer homes on Jonathan Clark Rd, off West Bethel Road.

The storm started around 8 a.m. Monday morning with trees, wires and wind damage. Approximately five inches of rain flooded homes and businesses and ripped at least two streets apart. He said they answered fire alarms, too, but mostly the calls were water rescues.

“Propane tanks were breaking off and floating away and causing issues.” He said they mitigated several propane catastrophes.

“Anytime you go into rushing floodwaters a lot can go wrong. But then again, a lot can go wrong when you’re wading into a propane cloud to shut the tanks off, too … you have to stay on your toes at all times,” said Jodrey.

Anywhere between one firefighter to as many eight or nine firefighters went out on each mission. “We were hopscotching call to call, here to there,” he said.

Of the people they rescued, about a dozen, stayed at the Bethel Resort and Suites, the Rostay, and Ruthie’s Motel. Many others couldn’t get home because of flooding and found a place to stay, too.

On Mayville Road, three motorists head back to their cars after deciding flooding by Irving gas station is too deep to chance. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Mutual aid

“No one could utilize a whole lot of mutual aid because people [in other fire departments] couldn’t get to each other. Bethel and Newry worked closely, side by side. Greenwood is always available on the other side. Woodstock takes care of the Route 232 section for us,” said Jodrey.

Nevertheless, Jodrey’s crew made water rescues on Tues. night, at Rumford Point pulling people out of the Androscoggin River using a boat.

He noted that, “Newry/Maine DOT Route 26 has  a ton of devastation. Bethel was fortunate where we didn’t lose a lot of infrastructure.”

Jodrey said Bethel Waste Water Treatment Plant employees – Toby Walker, Luke Angevine and Christian Brown – were the unsung heroes, hauling a portable generator around to all the pump stations that didn’t have power. “Without those pump stations everything is going to back up to where it came from,” said Jodrey.

High winds downed a tree on Howe Hill Road in Greenwood as the storm began on Monday. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Shelter

Jodrey said all of Bethel, with the exception of Mayville Road, was without power. He said Central Maine Power preemptively shut the power off on Monday and the substation on Walkers Mills Road was under water and inaccessible for at least 24 hours.

“Telstar has always been a Red Cross shelter if needed, but we don’t take it lightly,” said Jodrey. He said when they saw temperatures were going to dip lower [on Wednesday] he called SAD-44 School Superintendent Mark Kenney, who said he would make the school library available.

Jodrey said in his 37 years on the fire department, they have only used Telstar Middle/High School as a Red Cross Shelter twice: the ice storm of 1998 and last week.

He said in both cases residents mostly have opted to stay home. “Mainers are very resilient. It is a ‘We will be fine,’ type of attitude.  Public safety comes first. When people can shelter in place in their home and it’s still 60 degrees. That is not a life-threatening situation where you need to put other people’s lives at risk trying to do something that isn’t quite needed yet,” he said, referring to opening and staffing the shelter.

He said one woman stayed at the fire station for four or five hours then left, getting a room at the Bethel Resort and Suites.  He stressed that a chaotic fire station during an emergency is not the place to shelter.

Asked on Wednesday, if he has slept yet, Jodrey said he has been home for an hour or two at a time, but hasn’t gotten any sleep.

By Wednesday night, Dec. 20., the power was back on for most residents but with wet electrical panels and flooded basements further issues would likely arise, said Jodrey.