Westwood Fire Chief Led Search, Rescue Efforts After Brimfield Tornado

Homes destroyed, campgrounds overturned, trees uprooted, roads blocked.

Westwood Fire Chief William Scoble has seen quite a bit of destruction in his career. But the devastation left in the wake of that hit areas in Western Massachusetts was nothing short of a new experience. 

"I've never seen that much widespread damage before," said Scoble in his office on Tuesday. "Complete and total destruction."

Norfolk County currently has three task forces that can be utilized in the event of a disaster, Scoble said: 4A, 4B and 4C. Westwood belongs to the 4B Task Force, which Scoble led last week alongside Wrentham Fire Chief James McMorrow; both served as the task force commanders. 

Based on a run-card emergency response system, the Task Force was recruited to aid with search and rescue efforts in Brimfield, one of the hardest hit areas form last week's tornado. 

Scoble was also appointed as senior chief for the search and recovery efforts of the Brimfield area, overseeing all crews and helping to account for all of the storm's victims. The tornado's wrath injured dozens and resulted in the fatality of four people in the western part of the state that was affected; one of the fatalities occurred in a Brimfield campground. 

The Task Force comprised six engine companies from Westwood, Norwood, Walpole, Dover, Norfolk, and Wrentham, and two ladder companies from Foxborough and Medfield. The group met at the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, an ideal location that is situated adjacent Interstate 495. It was upon their leaving westward that they got a taste of the storms. 

"We drove through some pretty horrendous storms going out," Scoble said. "But it was after dark when we arrived. When we pulled off the Mass Pike at the Sturbridge exit, the first thing we noticed was Sturbridge was dark. There was no power."

As the Task Force drove on, the destruction thickened. 

Rte. 20 - a main roadway through the Brimfield area - was completely blocked at one point, as downed trees and power lines were impossible to overcome. 

"There were a series of trees on the right-hand side of the road, and all of a sudden the trees were coming from the left-hand side of the road," Scoble said. 

A front-end loader helped clear the path for vehicles to pass through, and eventually the Task Force came upon one of two campgrounds, both of which comprised about 97 camp sites, in the Brimfield area that were completely leveled. Motor homes were overturned. Propane tanks were scattered everywhere.

Search and rescue crews also scoured the area with cadaver dogs, but luckily no fatalities had occurred, save the unfortunate aforementioned incident. 

And while the roadway may have been partially cleared, it was even more difficult getting from camp ground to camp ground.

"You don't walk to anything because you can't," Scoble said. "The trees are just so intertwined that you literally can't walk from Point A to Point B. You can't even walk from camp site to camp site."

As a result, crews had to cut their way through the rubble, foot by foot, with chainsaws and other equipment.

Scoble recalled a Brimfield EMS worker who said he wanted to help others in the wake of the storm after his own home had been destroyed.

"That kind of sets the tone for what you're doing," Scoble said."

The Task Force, which left around 8 p.m. on the night of the storm, worked through the night and into the next day until being dismissed around 3 p.m. Services were on hand to provide all workers with a constant supply of food, water, and coffee.

After the Task Force's dismissal, and recovery efforts had begun to ensue. 

"You go street by street, and home by home, and once the sun was up, you could see," said Scoble, who added that at least 100 homes were completely destroyed by the tornado, which was classified as an EF3 tornado.

"They almost went EF4 with it," Scoble said. "And nothing's going to survive that. And it's not supposed to run through hills. Well, I can tell you, standing there, that it came down through a hill right into Brimfield on pretty much a wooded hillside. And just laid it flat in a perfect row, but slammed into houses in a row at the bottom of the valley and just kept going right through."

The tornado itself originated in Springfield, and spanned nearly 35 miles, Scoble said. What's more, Brimfield was hit with a second tornado about an hour after the first dissipated.

When daylight hit the morning after, crews set up a staging area at a privately-owned farm along Rte. 20 that is normally used for a flea market. The compound served as a home base for rescue crews, which sought to account for everyone in the Brimfield area affected by the storm. 

While Scoble has worked at various sites of disasters over the years, he said they have usually entailed a single incident in an isolated location, rather than in a widespread area.

"The difference here is you're looking for different resources you could normally get," he said. "Well, I'm not getting it, because it's already deployed."

Still, he said the logistics of the State Police and other forces were well-executed, and the cooperating of all those on hand was beyond excellent. Adding to that, no one on the Task Force was injured during relief efforts. 

The Westwood Fire Department is currently accepting various items for donation to help with the tornado relief. To see a list of items, .