WHAT: Pennsylvania-Task Force 1 (PA-TF1) deploys to South Carolina ahead of Hurricane Ian
WHO: Members of PA-TF1
Fire Commissioner Adam K. Thiel
WHEN: TODAY – Wednesday, Sept. 28 between 2:30 and 4 p.m.
WHERE: 6601 New State Road, Philadelphia
Forty-five members of PA-TF1 will deploy TODAY to South Carolina in anticipation of Hurricane Ian. PA-TF1 includes members of the Philadelphia Fire Department and first responders from across the region who are specially trained in urban search-and-rescue.
PA-TF1’s convoy of buses and trucks filled with personnel and equipment will leave Philadelphia this afternoon and travel more than 600 miles to a staging base in Columbia, S.C.
The Philadelphia Fire Department sponsors PA-TF1, which is one of 28 federal urban search-and-rescue teams overseen by FEMA. PA-TF1 includes technical search specialists, structural engineers, doctors, canines and canine handlers, and experts in hazardous materials and other related fields.
Last year, PA-TF1 spent 17 days in Florida to search for, rescue and recover those missing after the collapse of a residential high-rise building in Surfside.