MIAMI (WSVN) - Members of Florida Task Force Two have loaded up their equipment and are now on alert after Hurricane Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana.
Over 200 members of the task force, consisting of City of Miami Fire Rescue crews, are swift water experts and a search and rescue team, and 45 of them are ready to head to where Laura made landfall.
“We’re getting all the equipment ready to go,” Assistant Fire Chief Scott Dean, the task force’s leader, said. “We’re taking a Type 1 cache, which is a full complement of our equipment, which includes rescue equipment for any breaching or breaking that we may have to encounter, all of our communications so that we have the ability to speak to one another, search cameras in case anybody’s trapped.”
They were back at work on Thursday morning packing up more equipment.
Florida Task Force Two is among 28 Federal Emergency Management Agency teams that responds to either man-made or natural disasters. In January 2020, they were deployed to Puerto Rico following a massive earthquake.
In 2018, they were deployed to North and South Carolina to help with evacuations and rescues following Hurricane Florence.
“This year is a little different, especially with COVID, so we’ll have to test all of our members to make sure they are COVID negative, make sure we do temperature checks, give them proper PPE and just make sure the equipment is road-worthy because it does sit throughout the year, so we have to check all the vehicles to make sure they’re ready to roll because this is a pretty far deployment,” Dean said.
When asked what challenges may lie ahead with Hurricane Laura, Dean said, “For this particular storm, our biggest impact is probably going to be the water, making sure we have access because the roads are either going to be washed out or completely underwater.”
Dean added that the task force takes several different types of vessels, so they can move in between locations over water.
“We do take our high-water vehicles, so that we can go over any type of steep terrain that’s in our way,” Dean said. “The roadways being washed out, bridges being removed, just houses being completely underwater, so the waterway becomes an issue. We do take our boats with us, so that we can get to wherever we need to get. In case people are trapped in their homes, we can get them out and get them to safety.”
The task force also brings other equipment along with them, so if they need to walk on foot, they are prepared for what comes their way in the aftermath of the storm.
Officials said when the task force receives the call to be deployed, they have four hours to start heading towards their destination.
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