Published on September 13, 2018
September 13, 2018
California Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Force 3 (CA-TF3) was officially released by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL-OES) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Wednesday morning from for the Hawaiian Islands after Hurricane Olivia
Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said “The rostered 36 member, Type 3 Team (Hurricane Configuration with Water Rescue Capability) we’re officially released from the Hawaiian Islands Response after Hurricane Olivia early this morning. Team members should be arriving home this evening. Their 40,000 pounds of Technical Rescue equipment, including boats, will follow in the next few days. This is the Task Forces second deployment to the Hawaii Islands in the last three weeks, in advance of Hurricanes Lane and Olivia. Once we get our Team Members and equipment cache back, we will prepare for the potential of immediate deployment to Hurricane Florence if needed”.
The Bay Area Task Force is one of twenty eight National Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces for the United States, sponsored by FEMA and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Eight of the Teams are in California with two in the Bay Area. Task Force 3 is first up for deployment in September, amongst the nine other Task Forces located on the West Coast.
The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is the sponsoring Fire Agency for the Task Force but uses strategic participating Agency agreements with other local Fire Agencies to staff the Team. In addition to Fire District Firefighters, Search and Rescue personnel for this deployment have come from the Central San Mateo County Fire Agency, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Redwood City Fire Departments, Santa Clara County Fire Authority, San Jose and San Francisco Fire Departments, Genetech and other highly trained, experienced and dedicated civilian professionals like Doctors, Structural Engineers, Heavy Equipment Operators, Dog Handlers, Hazardous Materials experts, Radio Communications and Technical Information personnel, all who possess specialized skill sets.