![]() ![]() ![]() Rutledge has been with the USAR team since 2005. You look over and someone’s crying and that adds an emotional factor to the situation,” the 23-year firefighter veteran continued. Their whole life has been washed away by this hurricane. You go out there to help and you see that people have lost everything. However, it was “an emotional roller coaster,” as Task Force 7 Squadron Leader, Lieutenant Lee Rutledge, commented. There were some injuries, but no one was killed. It turned out that it was a private helicopter flying a fire chief and his IT guys. For a while, they didn’t know if any of their team members were on the helicopter. For example, about a mile behind their camp there was a helicopter crash. Their boots are heavy to begin with and then you have five to eight pounds of mud stuck to your boots, plus the equipment you have to carry, it’s physically taxing. One particular challenging situation was having to walk through six inches of silty mud everywhere you went. There were four issues they had to contend with−damages from high winds flooding from the rains and from the storm surge which measured 15 feet and the rivers that started overflowing days after the storm had passed. They bring in their own food, water and fuel for their vehicles. The eight task forces that serve Florida are entirely self-sustainable. The men and women were also flown in by Chinook helicopters to areas, such as Sanibel Island, that were cut off from the mainland and their equipment was brought in on barges. They also had high water military-style vehicles that are raised about three feet off the ground. It was rough down there the first few days waiting for the water to recede. “They started staging us in areas to keep us safe, yet close to the areas where we would be needed so that no time was wasted in getting us dispersed,” stated Luther McClellan, Public Information Officer with the task force. Right after Governor DeSantis declared a state of emergency, prior to Ian gaining hurricane strength and making landfall, the team got word that they needed to assemble. Task Force 7 is composed of twenty to thirty men and women and practice extensively for these types of scenarios. USAR teams are made up of firefighters and emergency personnel who, in addition to their regular training, receive special training in this important job that follows any type of disaster. Toyodoc (complimentary for customers) 15480 Cortez Blvd Skintastic (complimentary for customers) 250 Mariner Blvd Publix Brooksville Square 19390 Cortez Blvd Publix Lake in the Woods 4365 Commercial Way Highpoint Vending Box at Entrance 12251 Clubhouse Rd ![]() Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.Visit one of these locations below to purchase a hard copy of The Hernando Sun newspaper:īrookridge Vending Box 7300 Brookridge BlvdĬhik Fil A (complimentary for customers) 13143 Cortez BlvdĮxpress Oil (complimentary for customers) 20145 Cortez Blvdįlorida Cracker Kitchen Vending Box 966 E Jefferson “It’s pretty uncommon for us to see this kind of smoke for this period of time,” she said. But for now, Smith says the high-up haze being carried by the jet stream is more of an “interesting phenomenon” than a health risk. “That’s why you’re seeing the red sun and the lack of sunset and the hazy conditions.”Ī cold front expected to push through Thursday or Friday could help clear the skies. “The haze that we’re seeing now is primarily located in the upper atmosphere,” National Weather Service Norton meteorologist Kristie Smith said. While the arresting red-orange glow that shrouded major cities like San Francisco for days has begun to lift, smoke from the blazes continues to drift east, creating hazy conditions across New England, calling sports games into question and even reaching Europe. President Trump has issued an emergency disaster declaration for Oregon, where more than 1,100 homes and nearly 600 other structures have been destroyed. They could be deployed for up to two weeks.ĭozens of fires have burned millions of acres across California, Oregon and Washington, killing more than 30 people and displacing thousands. While they won’t be fighting fires, the task force members - part of a larger, Beverly-based team that pulls highly trained firefighters, technical rescue personnel, medical professionals, canine handlers, engineers, physicians and civilians from across New England - will be surveying wreckage and gathering information crucial to getting communities back up and running. Massachusetts Task Force 1 members heading to Oregon to aid wildfire search and rescue efforts “It’s just about tracking down locations of people and trying to put a name to a face on everybody,” Foster said. ![]()
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