By Christine Dempsey
Journal Inquirer
OXFORD, Conn. 鈥� Shot from a bar, the shaky cellphone video shows water moving fast through a shopping plaza parking lot Sunday. In the distance, someone who is partially submerged appears to be leaning against or holding onto a brick support for a large sign.
A firetruck is nearby, but rescuers are unable to get to the person before she is swept away, according to fire officials.
A similar scene played out about a quarter-mile away, this time a woman in a car that started floating away. In that case, firefighters with rescue ropes also were swept down the road-turned-river.
Both women were found dead Monday, victims of some of the worst flooding southwestern Connecticut has seen. State police identified them as Ethelyn Joiner, 65, and Audrey Rostkowski, 71, both Oxford residents.
The failed attempts to save two local women in this town of 13,000 was heartbreaking for family and others around the state, but also hard for the would-be rescuers to accept, Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pelletier said. They overshadow the positive efforts during the devastating floods.
There were countless successful rescues 鈥� so many Pelletier wasn鈥檛 able to come up with an estimate by Tuesday.
The firefighters who were trying to rescue the woman at the signpost were stymied as rushing water covered the wheels and exhaust pipes of the firetruck, which was among those being worked on in the days after the floods, Pelletier said.
The crew itself became trapped at Quarry Walk shopping center and apartments, he said, 鈥渟o they helped shelter 140 people.鈥�
Firefighters pulled people out of cars as water rose in the streets, he said. They rescued 30 people 鈥� including a 5-month-old 鈥� at a 3-year-old鈥檚 birthday party at Jackson Cove on Lake Zoar, Oxford First Selectman George Temple said at a news conference Monday.
In another save, Beacon Falls firefighters rescued 19 people and a dog who were trapped by dangerous floodwaters in an Oxford restaurant and home.
For the rescue at the Brookside Inn Restaurant in Oxford, firefighters guided customers, one at a time, to safety on a ladder that extended from a firetruck through a window, forming a bridge over the parking lot that had turned into a raging river. One by one, with a firefighter holding on from behind, each customer half-walked, half-crawled on the ladder while Dumpsters sped past in the rapids underneath.
But it鈥檚 the failed attempts that trouble firefighters.
鈥淲hen a rescue effort is unsuccessful, it sticks with you,鈥� said Andrew Ellis, fire chief in Brookfield. 鈥淚t changes you and there鈥檚 ramifications for you personally and professionally after that going forward.鈥�
鈥淵ou always second-guess yourself. 鈥業s there anything else I could have done?鈥欌�� he said Thursday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e our own toughest critics.鈥�
After an event like that, firefighters often will practice techniques in an attempt to avoid a repeat.
鈥淟et鈥檚 try it a hundred times so we can鈥檛 get it wrong,鈥� Ellis said. 鈥淲e like to have a perfect score. When you don鈥檛 achieve that, it stinks.鈥�
In Oxford, crews had peer discussions about the ordeal, but some firefighters don鈥檛 participate in group talks, Pelletier said.
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So firefighters also are given the chance to talk when there is only one other person in the room, and such counseling has been going on, he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we do one-on-one,鈥� Pelletier said.
Ellis said firefighters have to take a broader view.
鈥淲hat you have to look at is how many people were saved,鈥� he said. While one loss is too many, 鈥渋n the big picture, the lives that were saved far outnumber the ones that were lost.鈥�
鈥淚 feel for those firefighters who were not able to help those ladies,鈥� Ellis said, 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 proud of them for putting their lives at risk.鈥�
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