A dedicated disaster relief task force from Philadelphia has sprung into action by deploying 45 members to assist with Hurricane Helene in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Pennsylvania Task Force 1, a unit sponsored by the Philadelphia Fire Department, wasted no time in dispatching over half of its members early Thursday morning. While one group of members headed to North Carolina, another member was sent to Washington, D.C., and two others were deployed to Florida, where Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm, was anticipated to hit land Thursday night before moving north. Hurricanes in Categories 3 and above are classified as major storms. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper already declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in anticipation of severe flooding in the area.
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Rachel Cunningham, the communications director for the Philadelphia Fire Department, mentioned that the deployed task force members were still awaiting specific assignments as of Thursday evening. She was unable to confirm whether they had reached their designated locations.
PA-TF 1 is an integral part of the national urban search and rescue response system, which has been associated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 1989. All 28 task forces within this system can be mobilized within six hours to a disaster zone. These task forces are comprised of 70 trained members specializing in search, rescue, hazardous materials, medicine, and logistics. The team includes doctors, structural engineers, and canine search teams.
Earlier this year, PA-TF 1 had also played a crucial role in providing relief efforts during Hurricane Beryl in Texas.
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