Cabin John, MD- It was just before eight o’clock on a weekday morning, two days before Christmas, when suddenly without warning the heavens opened onto River Road, or maybe it was Hell heaving skyward.
A 66” water main running from the Washington Sewer and Sanitary Commission’s Potomac Filtration Plant north of the village of Potomac, supplying much of Montgomery County and a portion of Prince George’s County, suddenly broke apart and blew up through the ground spewing 150,000 gallons per minute of treated water skyward!
By a wild twist of fate, Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department’s Engine 710, which is housed just ½ mile from the point of the break, was enroute to Potomac Village to pick up something from a shop and literally drove into the unfolding drama. What did they find? Numerous cars floating down a 6% grade on a very busy secondary roadway toward them, all with people still inside. This, led by a 4’ wall of water!
Without even wasting a second, the members of the Engine Company (paid personnel that have been assigned for a long period of time to Cabin John Park VFD) immediately went into rescue mode! They were not waiting another second. They donned the river rescue gear that they carry with them, as they are each members of the Montgomery County Swift Water (River) Rescue and Tactical Services Team or RRATS that has been based out of the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department. This Team, a countywide team, has been comprised of much more than just Cabin John personnel since the mid-nineties. As such the leadership of the Volunteer Department asked the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Commission to give the Team a County Team status that would continue to be housed at both Cabin John Stations 10 and 30.
The officer on the Engine, Lieutenant Bill Phelps, called for additional resources immediately, including both swift water strike teams from the Cabin John stations, as well as aerial support for rescue from both, the United States Park Police Eagle Helicopter and several Maryland State Police Helicopters.
The crew of Engine 710: Lt. Phelps along with driver, Tony Bell (a 22 year veteran of the Cabin John stations) and rookie Ryan Bailey (newly hired and son of an MCFRS veteran), began to back up through the wall of water, reaching four vehicles and rescuing the persons inside while awaiting the arrival of back-up support. For the time being, the crew from Cabin John was the only resistance stopping several cars from plunging down River Road and into Cabin John Creek with their owners still inside!
Soon, additional resources arrived with Lt. Pat Mitchell on the east side with the strike team from Station 10 and Capt. Doyle on the west side with the strike team from Station 30. These units immediately began to help set up for the rescue of victims that could not be reached by the Engine, as the roadway was becoming undermined and was caving in!
Unbeknownst to the fire rescuers responding to the call, an off-duty Frederick County, Maryland firefighter was actually on the scene of the incident when the pipe ruptured and affected several rescues by himself before the engine climbed the hill.
Just as the incident was beginning to unfold, the Volunteer Fire Chief of the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department, Jim Seavey, Sr., was coming over the Beltway from work at the D.C. Fire Department and saw what was happening up ahead past the fire station on River Road. He called Volunteer Deputy Fire Chief Tom Jones, who was at work at METRO and asked him what was going on. He soon learned the unbelievable! It was a totally dry and very cold (12 degree) day and there was a major water rescue occurring on River Road.
Chief Seavey pulled one of the Department Utility Trucks around the station out to River Road and reported on the scene with Montgomery County, checked in the command and was put in charge of the east side of the incident.
Working with Chief Seavey was his longtime Volunteer Deputy Fire Chief, Steve Miller, who had heard the initial emergency call from Engine 710 at his place of work. DFC Miller is retired from the D.C. Fire Department and works for the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service in the Breathing Air Shop. He consulted with the Special Operations Chief of the MCFRS, Mike McCarty, who advised him to respond to the incident. DFC Miller has been the Team Leader of the RRATS Team since its inception and led the in-house river rescue team for years prior to that.
DFC Miller was placed in charge of the “Carderock” Division, which was the actual rescue division, working with the personnel affecting the rescues.
The Paid Operations Chief of Montgomery County, Steve Lohr, who is the second in command to the County Fire Chief, was working in the Cabin John Deputy Fire Chief’s Command Vehicle with DFC Miller as a team.
On the opposite end of the incident was the west branch, which was housing the main command post, which included the Battalion Fire Chief for the Bethesda/Cabin John area, Jim Resnick (A Walt Whitman graduate ’76) and also BFC Scott Goldstein, the Aide to the Operations Chief.
The rescues were made using a combination of Engine 710, several jon boats from the RRATS Team and helicopters from Maryland State Police and the United States Park Police Eagle One.
All in all there were a total of 9 persons rescued from seven vehicles and brought to the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Station 10 for warming and hydration.
There was an incredible amount of support provided by the Fairfax Fire Rescue Department, who sent three heavy rescue squads and three swift water boat teams over to assist with the search of the nearby creek, where it was thought several cars had been swept away.
It should be noted that the rescuers from Cabin John work almost daily with those from Fairfax on the Potomac River. Chief Seavey put it best when he said, “We simply took a great thirty (30) year old model from the Potomac River incidents and moved inland by two miles and used it there!”
There were numerous personnel who came from the ranks of the volunteers to support this mission. Several personnel responded immediately as part of the rescue effort, being members of the RRATS Team themselves and many others coming throughout the morning as they learned through the massive media coverage of the enormity of the incident.
The personnel and victims were provided for by Canteen units from Kensington Volunteer Fire Department, Rockville Volunteer Fire Department, Gaithersburg Volunteer Fire Department and a kitchen mess provided the rescuers and victims by the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department.
River Road was shut down indefinitely due to the collapse of the infrastructure and the fact that the entire pipe system had to be excavated. We are just learning on New Years Eve that it will be re-opened late this evening in time for 2009!
