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East Tennessee Swift Water Rescue Task Force rescues woman during Florence

The East Tennessee Swift Water Rescue Task Force is back from its deployment for Florence, rescuing one woman from treacherous floodwaters in South Carolina.

The East Tennessee Swift Water Rescue Task Force is back from its deployment for Florence, rescuing one woman from treacherous floodwaters in South Carolina.

A team of 12 firefighters was deployed for eight days in various cities across the state. The team comprised of six workers from Knoxville Fire Department and the rest from Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and the Gatlinburg Fire Departments.

Last week, the team was dispatched to a rescue in Dillon, S.C., which is just south of the North Carolina border and about 60 miles from the coast. There an elderly woman was trapped by the floodwaters from the Pee Dee River.

KFD's J.P. Plante says a crew with an Army truck went with them, but the water was so swift that the truck tipped, and boats had to shuttle them to dry land. The rescue took about four hours.

Plante said she is proud the team embodied the Volunteer Spirit.

"It was very intense, but working together with these people, we felt, I felt very safe and I felt like we were there to get the job done," Plante said.

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