South Florida rescue teams prepare to help Venezuela after deadly earthquakes
Some of South Florida's best search and rescue teams are en route to Caracas, Venezuela.
Florida Task Force 1 and 2 sent 80 members to help find survivors of the deadly earthquakes that shook the Venezuelan capital on Wednesday.
It is a mission deeply personal to many.
"We're getting mentally prepared," said Captain German Leal of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
Leal is a 15-year veteran of Florida Task Force One. The group met inside their Homestead warehouse and loaded pallets of equipment to carry with them on Thursday.
Their mission is familiar. For Leal, the neighborhoods they will search are familiar too.
"It hits hard because I remember playing as a kid in those streets," he said. "It's only been a couple of days [since the earthquakes]. So, it's a high likelihood, I would say, that we're going to find people."
His team is eager to save lives.
"These men and women are going to really bring comfort and rescue," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.
"Five years ago, we had the Champlain towers that collapsed, and that was a big one for us," Leal said, noting his team has handled other incidents in Miami-Dade County and in Haiti.
"This one is going to be in the top," he added.
Their team includes K9 units trained to sniff out signs of life. Florida Task Force Two, which includes City of Miami firefighters, is bringing a similar team.
That task force loaded gear in their Miami warehouse late into the night Thursday. They are also sending two doctors and structural engineers. Other task force members expect to spend much of their time cutting and tunneling through concrete.
"This is an incredible responsibility," City of Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said. "But what an incredible privilege for our task force for our city to not only represent the residents of the City of Miami but also the United States."
"Every single person that lives in Miami knows someone, a friend or family member, that is in Venezuela," City of Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins said. "We are scared for them, and we are worried for them."