Gustav bound
Fairfax County, Virginia’s Urban Search and Rescue Team (Virginia Task Force 1) is mobilizing from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Academy. They’re expected to head out first to Atlanta. The team consists of 80 members.
Also, a medical ‘strike team’ left Baltimore on Saturday to help Gulf Coast states deal with hurricane Gustav. The 26 paramedics are trained in advanced life-saving skills. They’re expected to be gone for seven to fourteen days.
Montgomery County (MD) is prepared to send a emergency workers to help with rescue efforts should the need arise.
The team of up to 70 firefighters is gearing up to make the trip. Earlier in the week a small number of firefighters headed south to make preparations and set up the incident management system in anticipation of the deployments.
From Florida, BradentonHerald.com has this:
A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue urban disaster team headed to Georgia on Saturday to help wherever Hurricane Gustav strikes.
The Rescue Urban Search and Rescue Team will wait there to see where Gustav does the most damage and then travel to help rescue efforts and treat victims.
The 34 firefighters are bringing four search dogs, medical supplies, digging equipment and pole-mounted cameras.
They’re trained to help set up command and control stations as well as provide technical assistance and structural assessment and stabilization. They also can help provide medical care, hazardous materials mitigation, tactical communications and logistics support.
The trip is funded by the federal government and could last two weeks or more, depending on the severity of the storm’s impact.
