Missouri’s highly-skilled search and rescue team has deployed to help with Hurricane Helene relief.
Gale Blomenkamp, with Boone County Fire District, said 45 Missouri Task Force members are in Gainesville, Georgia. The hurricane is forecasted to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane today.
“They’re prepared to do anything that they’re needed to do, including, you know, water rescues, wide area search, true USAR-type urban search and rescue missions. They can be doing humanitarian missions. It’s really whatever is needed by the local jurisdiction or the state,” Blomenkamp said.
Blomenkamp said several safety risks are at play for the team.
“Rapid water, high-moving, swift water rescues,” he said. “They’re going on to people’s property that they may not want you there. And so, they have to have force protection from local law enforcement or federal law enforcement agencies. Generally speaking, you’re talking hazardous materials, anything that could be in flood waters, including reptiles and poisonous snakes and all of those things that come with flooding.”
Once the task force receives an activation call, members have four hours to deploy as a team from Columbia. Blomenkamp said the members deployed are from all over the state.
“All four corners and everywhere in between,” said Blomenkamp. “And so, there’s 19 different disciplines as part of the task force. So not everybody’s firefighters, not everybody’s medical providers. We have structural engineers. We have doctors. We have communication specialists. We have planning people. It is quite the endeavor to get even 45 people out the door in a matter of four hours, when some people drive for three hours just to get here.”
Depending on the need, the task force is prepared to stay up to two weeks.
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