Five Towns first responders unite for Hurricane Helene relief

Relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which tore through communities in the Southeast, reunited four Five Towns natives, who got their start as first responders locally.

Mike Beilinson, James McHugh, Ryan Norman and Anthony Viverito were surprised to see their names listed together on a Federal Emergency Management Agency team that responded to the hurricane late last month.

“It’s pretty awesome that randomly we all wound up on this deployment,” Viverito wrote in a text message, “having all grown up together, all sharing a common bond of being raised with a strong work ethic and duty to serve.”

Norman, a native of Inwood, a former Inwood Fire Department member and a New York City police officer, said the four men are part of FEMA New York Task Force 1, the city’s search-and-rescue team, made up of city firefighters, police officers and emergency management officials.

Before Helene swept inland after making landfall in western Florida, Beilinson, McHugh, Norman and Viverito were sent to Polk County, North Carolina, in anticipation of the damage that was expected there. After the storm roared through the area, one of their first calls was for a woman who was trapped between levels of her home. The first floor had been knocked into a river by landslides, Norman said.

“We ended up trying to rescue her, but by the time we got there she had passed,” he recounted, adding that it was emotional scene as they consoled the woman’s husband.

The four launched their search-and-rescue efforts as soon as the storm lifted, Viverito, a city firefighter and a former Inwood and Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department member, wrote in a text message.

“We were basically working our way into areas that were inaccessible,” Viverito wrote. “We went as far as we could by vehicle opening up roads with chainsaws and then went in the rest of the way on foot.”

The communities in and surrounding Polk County were “devastated,” Viverito wrote.

McHugh, another city firefighter and an active member of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, wrote in a text message that the team moved to Avery County, North Carolina, next.

“We are doing everything from removing people from collapsed structures and the water, to assessing buildings that have been damaged by the storm, by water surge or fallen trees,” McHugh wrote.

As the Herald went to press on Tuesday — and another potentially catastrophic hurricane, Milton, barreled toward Florida — the group did not know how long they might be in North Carolina, but their job will end when all affected areas have been searched, Norman said. Then a FEMA rebuild-and-recovery team will come in to help.

McHugh wrote that it is difficult to be away from family for long periods, “but they understand (you’re) helping people in need.”

Beilinson, the chief of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst F.D. and a member for 16 years, noted the strength of the people they were meeting.

“It’s extremely humbling to be able to assist the people of NC,” Beilinson texted. “They are extremely resilient and resourceful people, a lot of which are native New Yorkers. It’s definitely hard being away from our homes and families, but we love the work.”

The FEMA force tackling Hurricane Helene relief efforts totals nearly 7,000 people. Resources and information can be found on the organization’s website, FEMA.gov/Disaster/Current/Hurricane-Helene#news.