Florida Task Force 2 to assist in Hurricane Milton rescue and recovery
MIAMI - Members of Miami Fire Rescue's Florida Task Force 2 are readying to head north to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
The team, which specializes in swift water rescue and disaster response, will be gone for approximately 14 days. The task force is comprised of paramedics, veterinarians, and other specialists from various departments across South Florida with the same goal in mind - to help.
"We're going to follow right behind the storm. We're going to take a team of engineers, doctors, structural specialists, search and rescue specialists, hazardous materials specialists," said team leader Christopher Diaz.
Task Force 2 is usually an 80-member team but because of the magnitude of the storm they've upgraded to 100. Once the team identifies the hardest hit areas they will begin rescues and recovery.
"The first couple of days is full blitz from all the task forces. It's a 24-hour operation trying to find those that are left behind, trying to find those that are stuck, get them out, and get them to a safe location," said Miami Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Scott Dean.
With the potential for life-threatening storm surge, there are concerns.
"All our landmarks, all our street signs are washed away. You have structures, landmarks, completely wiped off the face of the Earth and we have to go with satellite imagery, maps that we printed off before, and assess ground zero," said Diaz.
The hardest part, they said, is people not heeding the warnings and not evacuating when told to do so.
"Your house is not worth your life," said Dean.
With Hurricane Helene making landfall only two weeks ago, Task Force 2 said they are up for deployment. They said there are three task force teams ready to go at any moment. Once a deployment ends, there is a 48-hour turnaround period where they service vehicles and equipment and get ready for the next disaster.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Florida Task Force 1 is preparing to deploy to assist in Milton response efforts.
The 106-member team is ensuring that all equipment is prepared and secured for this mission, and ready to be mobilized into the hurricane-impacted areas to assist residents as well as other local and state agencies with hurricane relief efforts in the Florida peninsula.
Equipped with an embedded swift/flood water rescue capability, task force crews are made up of trained firefighter/paramedics, rescue specialists, doctors, structural engineers and four canine teams.