Crime & Safety
Welcome Home Firefighters! OC Teams Demobilize After Florence
FEMA's Urban Search And Rescue Firefighters from Southern California, mainly Orange County from the Highly Skilled CA TF-5 Team, are back.
LAKE FOREST, CA – Seeds. Flannel pillow cases. Hand sanitizer. Pay Day bars. Sleeping bags. A 61-hour road trip one-way non-stop. Flooded roadways. Stranded people clinging to trees and hope that someone would save them.
And they did.
The Southern California Firefighters from different agencies (including OCFA, Anaheim Fire and Rescue, Orange City Fire Department) came together September 11th to form one of the finest Urban Search and Rescue teams in the Nation – FEMA’s US&R California Task Force 5 (CA TF-5), and heeded the call for help in the Carolinas for the aftermath of flooding caused by Hurricane Florence.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“Two 16-member teams from Orange County Fire Authority, Orange City Fire Department, and Anaheim Fire and Rescue were among four California swift-water rescue crews deployed to the East Coast Tuesday to aid in emergency response during Hurricane Florence. The hurricane is expected to hit the southern East Coast later this week,” wrote a member from www.cat5.org.
Task Force sections include: leaders, logistics, communications, hazardous materials, medical, plans, rescue, safety and search, according to www.cat5.org.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
A total of 16 members from Orange County CA-Task Force 5 MRP-B arrived home Monday after a 2-week deployment to assist with Hurricane Florence, according to OCFA Captain PIO Tony Bommarito.
They returned to the Orange County Fire Authority USAR warehouse in Foothill Ranch, where the team was warmly welcomed home today by family, colleagues, friends and the media.
As the team officially “demobilized” from “deployment” -- which included on-scene medical checks, the firefighters who spent the last two weeks saving lives and living in the moment at the task at hand, started to reacclimate to “normal” life back in Orange County.
One task force member who helped rescue an elderly man stranded in a tree after his car was caught in a flood, spoke of the experience and the personal impact such an assignment carries. He spoke of the urgency that was needed to help this man and others. Stranded by water, flooded towns. The faces of shock, people clinging to life. And said the experience will probably always be with him.
And the bonds created amongst these highly trained, exceptionally professional and proficient first responders, the CATF5 boys (and girls!), will never be broken.
And the memories of the “seeds” will last a lifetime.
Photos, courtesy OCFA & Amy Spurgeon Hoffman
