Los Angeles-Area Firefighters Head To Florida To Offer Help As Hurricane Irma Makes Landfall
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBSLA.com) — Los Angeles-area firefighters were headed to Florida to offer assistance as Hurricane Irma made landfall on Sunday.
A convoy of 15 vehicles carrying 70 members of the LAFD Swift Water Rescue Team was on its way to assist Irma victims.
Footage posted to Twitter by Franco Powers, a police officer, showed a Los Angeles Fire Department truck from Station 88 in Encino headed toward Irma.
Powers wrote, "Choked me up. @LAFD all the way from California southbound on the Florida turnpike heading toward #HurricanIrma."
The team actually left Los Angeles two weeks ago. They were originally called up by FEMA for Hurricane Harvey. On day 10 they were heading home, driving through El Paso, when they got the call to instead go east to assist with Hurricane Irma.
Meanwhile, Pacific Gas and Electric crews from the Bay Area also headed to Florida ahead of the storm to help restore power to Floridians impacted by the hurricane. They were present as part of a mutual aid agreement.
As of Sunday morning, Florida utility officials reported that more than 1 million customers had lost power, according to the Associated Press.