Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1

Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Miami-Dade County, Florida and sponsored by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department.[1] The mission of FL-TF1 is to respond to natural and man-made disasters to provide search and rescue as well as both medical and communications support.[2]

As with all FEMA Task Forces, FL-TF1 is trained in physical search and rescue in damaged or collapsed structures as well as in areas that have sustained significant flooding. Additionally the task force specializes in providing medical care at the scene of a disaster for trapped victims.[3] FL-TF1 is also specifically trained in satellite communication systems that can be used in areas where normal communication infrastructure has been damaged.

Once notified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the team has a six-hour window to mobilize 70 team members to report to a prearranged departure point. FL-TF1 is composed mostly of personnel from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department but other outside specialists are brought in as needed. In addition, FL-TF1 has nine FEMA certified canine teams, each composed of a handler and a search dog.[4]

History

In the early 1980s two fire departments, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department out of Fairfax County, Virginia worked together under an agreement with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide international search and rescue assistance in times of disaster.[4] Starting in 1991, FEMA incorporated a USAR team into its federal response plan. These 20+ teams that would later become the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces were chosen throughout the country based on geographic location with local public safety departments as sponsoring agencies.[4]

Deployments

Since its creation in the 1980s, FL-TF1 has responded to a wide range of disasters around the world.[5]

Earthquakes

Weather disasters
Year Event Location
1988Hurricane GilbertJamaica
1989Hurricane HugoEastern Caribbean
1992Hurricane AndrewMiami
1995Hurricane LuisCaribbean
1995Hurricane MarilynCaribbean
1995Hurricane OpalNorth Florida
2000FloodMozambique
2000Hurricane KeithBelize
2004Hurricane CharleyCharlotte County, Florida
2005Hurricane KatrinaNew Orleans, Louisiana
2008Hurricane GustavTexas
2008Hurricane IkeMiami-Dade County, Florida
2017Hurricane IrmaFlorida Keys
2018Hurricane FlorenceSouth Carolina

Building explosions

Airplane crashes

Communications support
  • 1989 - Romania
  • 1991 - Northern Iraq & Turkey
  • 1994 - Rwanda
  • 1994 - Haiti
  • 1995 - Montserrat
  • 1995 - Sierra Leone
  • 1996 - Bosnia
  • 1998 - Nairobi, Kenya

Building collapse
  • 2007 - Barbados

References
  1. "Task Force Locations". FEMA. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  2. "USAR Mission". Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  3. "USAR Capabilities". Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  4. "History". Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  5. "USAR Responses". Miami-Dade Fire REscue. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
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