BOSTON — It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort to provide relief to the communities in Florida as they continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Forty-five members of the Massachusetts Task Force One urban search and rescue team are heading south to help in the recovery efforts.
The 45-person team, made up of firefighters, police officers, EMT’s and doctors, left their base in Beverly on Friday night and are driving more than 1,000 miles to Florida.
Hurricane Ian ripped through Florida before making landfall in the Carolinas this week, leaving homes, businesses, and beaches devastated. At least 45 people were confirmed dead from the storm’s tragic aftereffects and that number is expected to keep rising.
The team out of Beverly is one of several being called in to help from around the country. They will start in Orlando first where the staging area is then they will find out exactly where they need to go.
Crews will look for victims in buildings and do structural damage assessments to provide to the state.
Leaders with Massachusetts Search and Rescue say responding to these types of disasters has become too frequent.
“Fortunately or unfortunately over the past six years or so teams have gone out the door quite a bit. We’ve gone out the door nearly every year for these hurricane events and such. So we have expanded our expertise I would say and our training. We will take things like boats, we have flat bottom boats and inflatable boats to move around the different areas,” says Neal Aspesi with the Massachusetts Task Force.
The team plans on spending 14 days helping out in Florida or wherever FEMA might send them.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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