Beverly-Based FEMA Team Taking On 2nd Hurricane In 2 Weeks
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CBS) -- Six members of FEMA's Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 1 out of Beverly are now in Florida and ready to help out with Hurricane Irma--after they just spent two weeks saving lives in Houston.
The group headed to Texas on August 27 to respond to Hurricane Harvey, and is now set up in Jacksonville. Deputy Logistics Section Chief Sean Brown says the team is just waiting for the call, ready to take part in life-saving rescues.
"Many of the folks here including myself just left Harvey and came directly to Florida," Brown told WBZ-TV. "We stay focused on contingency planning and responding to the needs, and that is really the focus of all of our efforts and energies at this time."
The task force has 19 members in Florida and Puerto Rico.
"The Urban Search and Rescue system is capable of responding in a variety of configurations to support structural collapse rescue, water rescue, rescue in a contaminated environment," Brown told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe. "We are always ready to adjust accordingly to meet the needs of the mission assignment."
Some of the team members are firefighters and first responders here in Massachusetts.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports