This month, southeastern Missouri suffered from extreme rainfall and flash flooding, with as much as 14 inches of rainfall in some places. Much of the flooding took place in the Black River Basin. Five members of the Mehlville Fire Protection District (MFPD) were deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts in that disaster, alongside responders from across the state.

“We were able to work very well with Reynolds and Iron counties,” Captain Michael Mueller at MFPD said. “The hospitality from everyone down there was amazing, from the county representatives to the high school we were able to stay at. Everybody was wonderful to help us. I couldn’t say enough great things about the people who were down there. Even though they were the ones going through the disaster, they were making sure we were taken care of. Gratitude definitely goes out to them.”

On July 10, the five MFPD personnel were activated by the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to assist with disaster efforts. The five-person team was made up of responders with various training and disciplines: Mueller is a search team manager, and among the team were also two rescue specialists, a hazmat specialist and a Disaster Situational Assessment and Reconnaissance Team (DSAR) specialist to pilot a drone. MFPD personnel stayed and continued giving assistance at the disaster site through July 13.

Once responders are notified that their services are required, they have four hours to get on the road if they are traveling by ground or six hours to get on the road if traveling by aircraft.

“When we got there, there were a lot of things going on,” Mueller said. “There were a lot of active rescues being performed on persons that were trapped in the flood waters. We assisted local and regional assets at performing those rescues … Once those rescues were wrapping up, then we began systematic search operations of anywhere the flood had impacted — homes, campsites, vehicles, that type of stuff.”

According to Mueller, a good number of responders were on the scene when MFPD personnel arrived. He said that they focused on “integrating with them, asking how to help them and making sure they were operating safely.”

MFPD assisted the local agencies with 911 calls and evacuations. When not answering calls, they systematically moved along the river and searched areas where people could potentially be trapped. They evacuated those people from there. They also targeted areas that they thought might have a higher likelihood of people in danger, like high density population areas.

More than 200 children and staff members from Camp Taum Sauk were rescued from flood waters and airlifted to safety; MFPD worked alongside the Missouri National Guard to accomplish that task.

“In this situation with the campgrounds, it’s a very sparse country with very hilly terrain, so the campgrounds were the biggest concern initially,” Mueller said. “They knew there were going to be quite a few people there.”

Responders from all over the state partnered to address the damage caused by the flooding. Mueller calls it a great opportunity to collaborate.

“We get to learn from each other,” Mueller said. “How we do things on the east side of the state is essentially the same as how they do it on the west side of the state, however they may have found a better way to do it. It allows us to all come together so we can get better at our craft and our discipline. It’s wonderful that we can pull resources from all across the state.”

In all, the MFPD team searched over 100 damaged structures, rescued over 90 campers and searched 120 damaged cars and vehicles. The DSAR team mapped over 2,000 acres, collecting over 7,000 assessment images of infrastructure in the area that can be used by local agencies.