Both two and four-legged members of Maryland Task Force 1 arrived back in Rockville on Monday afternoon, after their latest stint helping with hurricane rescues and surveying damage in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
They grabbed their luggage and unpacked other supplies, and after entering a warehouse, Montgomery County Fire Chief Corey Smedley eagerly welcomed them home.
The crew of about 45 members is the second to return home in less than a week. On Thursday, other members of the group arrived home after spending time in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
The members who returned to Maryland on Monday relieved the first crew. FEMA, Smedley said, extended the task force’s deployment.
“We sent two teams, because we had not only catastrophic weather event from Hurricane Helene, but right behind that was Milton,” Smedley said. “So we needed to ensure that we take the appropriate steps to maximize the time we were down there. So we decided to send two teams, let one team come back and another team go so they can stay there as long as needed.”
In total, Maryland Task Force 1 was deployed for 18 days and about 100 people were involved in helping after the storms, Smedley said. The group includes first responders from Montgomery County, Howard County, D.C., Frederick, Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.
It included responders with different types of certification, Smedley said, including K-9 teams, communication specialists, and those specifically trained for water rescues, structural collapse and search and rescue.
Helping out ‘decimated’ Southern towns
The teams spent time in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, traveling wherever FEMA advised them the most need was.
“They did things from structural collapse evaluations to see that if there’s somebody trapped in the home, to see how stable the structure is; to land rescue, to water rescues,” Smedley said. “They had simple things as handing out potable water, so people can have to hydrate. Also any kind of medical emergencies they were able to take care of.”
The two units that were deployed briefly overlapped, before the group that returned Monday took over.
Capt. Jason Light, who was on the second team that was deployed, said their group searched about 776 miles in Brevard County, Florida, handling damage assessments and reviewing the impact of the wind and flooding.
The group also assisted with medical emergencies, Light said, and stepped in upon seeing a family that was struggling to raise its American flag.
“That was our team that decided to lend a helping hand and help reraise and get this flagpole and this flag back up flying,” Light said.
Howard County Fire Battalion Chief Steve Hardesty, who was on the first deployment, said their first group started in Macon, Georgia, and observed a lot of wind damage, specifically trees down on houses and damage to power line infrastructure.
The town of Swannanoa, North Carolina, “was just decimated, just houses missing, everything in the flood’s path or in the water’s path got wiped out,” Hardesty said.
A section of homes on a mountain there, he said, wasn’t impacted by water damaged, but suffered damage because of mudslides.
The trip marked the group’s fourth deployment of the year through FEMA, Smedley said, “and we still have eight weeks left in the hurricane season. So if FEMA calls us right now, we already are demobilizing, we’re checking everything so we can be ready to go back on the road in a moment’s notice.”
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