As Hurricane Helene threatens to beat down on Florida, search and rescue teams from Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland have been sent down to help.
Virginia Task Force 1 was dispatched Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Florida on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, Maryland Task Force 1 left for “The Sunshine State” on Wednesday afternoon. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated the teams at the request of the state of Florida.
“That’s common for hurricanes, we often stage before they strike so that we can be ready to roll in as soon as they pass. So along with teams from around the country, we’ll head down to Florida. And then once the storm passes through and Florida begins their damage assessment, they’ll work with the emergency management officials down there to figure out where exactly our team’s resources and capabilities are needed,” said John Morrison, spokesman for Task Force 1, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue.
There are 28 urban search and rescue teams nationwide sponsored by FEMA. Six teams have been ordered to go to Florida, including Maryland Task Force 1, which features a search and rescue team with 45 members from Montgomery, Howard and Prince George’s counties’ fire departments as well as D.C. Fire and EMS.
Virginia Task Force 1 is an 80-member team.
“When we deploy on behalf of FEMA, we really work with the local emergency management officials down there. So wherever they need us, that’s where we’ll go. And we provide a bunch of different capabilities that may be swift water or flat water rescue capabilities, wide-area search and rescue, collapsed building search and rescue. We bring over 30 tons of equipment along with our 80 people and four dogs,” Morrison said.
“Whatever the local officials down there need, we can provide that,” he added.
Both the Virginia and Maryland search and rescue teams will take up positions hours away from the expected landfall site of Hurricane Helene. Then, following the storm, the teams will swing into action if their services are needed.
Task force teams are fully equipped to provide for their own well-being while working to help others.
“We’ll bring two doctors and 10 paramedics,” Morrison said. “We want to be as capable as we can so that they’re designed to take care of our rescuers, along with any victims we may come upon. We also bring all of the food and water and shelter that we need to take care of ourselves, because we don’t want to be a burden on the local providers there. So we’ll bring everything we need to be self-sufficient.”
Maryland Task Force 1 has water rescue capabilities and also an incident support team, including a communications specialist.
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