Many Butler County residents were not surprised to learn that members of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department are among the rescue personnel from Western Pennsylvania who have been summoned for duty in flood-ravaged areas of central and eastern Pennsylvania.

The Unionville department is well-known for its skilled dive team, which is trained in river rescue. Four dive team members are among the eight Unionville firefighters who departed Wednesday afternoon as part of a 20-member contingent from the Swift Water Rescue Team of Butler and Allegheny counties.

According to Frank Matis, Butler County director of emergency services, the Unionville personnel were called after discussion with Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials.

The area contingent headed east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and, early Thursday, the Unionville volunteers were in New Hope, Bucks County, poised for whatever duties they would be called upon to perform.

The Delaware River crested in New Hope at 8 a.m. Thursday, five feet above the 13-foot flood stage. A police-issued mandatory-evacuation order went into effect in the borough at 4 p.m. Wednesday. But whether everyone heeded that order was one of the issues facing rescuers Thursday morning.

Flooding is not foreign to Butler County; people here can sympathize with what is happening in the commonwealth's central and eastern regions. The misery in this county brought about by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 will long be remembered.

However, it is important to acknowledge that the scope of the Butler County emergency nearly two years ago was but a small fraction of what residents in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania have been experiencing in recent days. And, people old enough to remember the devastation of Tropical Storm Agnes in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania in 1972 can attest how much more extensive and costly was the destruction from that emergency, compared with what is being witnessed now.

It is commendable that the Unionville contingent was able and willing to provide assistance to people of New Hope and its environs. And, the experience they gain in the current emergency will better prepare them, should another disaster strike close to home.