Western Pa. firefighters organizing relief effort for counterparts devastated by North Carolina flooding

Firefighters from Western Pennsylvania and beyond are rallying to help their counterparts in flood-ravaged North Carolina.

A donated 53-foot trailer is expected to be set up in New Kensington this week to accept donations from fire departments that will go to a staging area outside Asheville, a city in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s about 480 miles from Pittsburgh and was hit hard by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

Oakmont fire Capt. Joey Flanick was tallying up his department’s leftover equipment they could give after hearing about the effort Monday morning.

“We have some old leftover gear that we might be able to donate. We have some old hose couplings and connectors, hydrant connections, hydrant tools,” he said. “They can use anything right now.”

The effort is being organized by The FD Relief Mission of Western Pa., which started in 2014 to get used firefighting equipment to the Dominican Republic. In December 2021, they loaded up a trailer to help a community in tornado-ravaged Kentucky, where a fire station had been destroyed.

Mike Talerico, a firefighter in Wilkins who lives in Munhall, was part of the group that started the relief mission. He said he got an anonymous call from someone who had heard about their group and was asking if there was anything they could do to help in North Carolina.

On Monday, he said the relief effort was just in its beginning stage, but they were fielding scores of messages from across the state and beyond.

“We’re small-scale,” he said. “We’ve never done anything this big before.”

New Kensington fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. secured a donated trailer from Export Fuel. Webb’s Service Center is providing the tractor and a driver. The trailer is expected to be set up Tuesday evening in New Kensington, and donations will begin to be loaded Wednesday. It will leave as soon as it is filled, Saliba said.

Seeing pictures and video of the destruction, including the Elk Mills-Poga Volunteer Fire and Rescue’s station being swept away, “really made me sick,” Saliba said.

“It’s hard to fathom the destruction that those people went through,” he said. “It’s hard to believe that entire municipalities are gone. There’s nothing there.”

Even before the official call for donations went out, Saliba said, he and Talerico were getting calls from departments across the state wanting to contribute.

“People are willing to donate some of their surplus equipment that they just recently replaced, and it still has some serviceable life to give them so they can get back on their feet and provide a service,” Saliba said.

Asked what the general public could do to help, Talerico and Saliba each said monetary donations to help cover the costs of the trip, such as fuel and food, would be helpful. A GoFundMe may be set up to collect them, Talerico said.

“It’s going to be a very big movement, but it’s for a wonderful cause to help these people who are in dire need of help,” Saliba said.

East Deer fire Chief Jack Bailie’s department is offering two boats along with a number of air packs and tanks, some hose and radios — all things they’ve recently replaced or don’t need that still have some life left and “will buy them some time.”

“We’re all firemen. We’re all brothers,” he said. “It’s family stepping in to help family.”