Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team Set to Arrive in Nepal

A team from Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue is heading to Nepal to help with rescue efforts after a massive earthquake there. The 7.8 earthquake that hit Saturday has seen a quake death toll at nearly 4,000 with an estimated 7,000 injured, according to CNN.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Richie Bowers and others are keeping their efforts updated on the rescue team’s Facebook page:

Monday, April 27: The team arrived safely in Qatar around 0420 EDT today. They will be there several hours. The anticipated arrival time in Kathmandu is now sometime this evening (early on 4/28 in Nepal).

Sunday, April 26: The Task Force has departed Dover AFB. We know they will be in the air for at least the next 12 hours until a refueling stop. More updates as they are made available.

VATF1 Task Force departed from the USAR facility in Chantilly at 11:40 p.m. last night, and they arrived safely at Dover Air Force Base at 2:30 a.m. this morning.

The aircraft has been loaded and they will be departing Dover AFB shortly. The estimated time of arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal is early Monday morning (EDT). Once airborne, we do not expect to hear from the team until sometime late Sunday evening when they reach a refueling point. The team members are in good spirits and anxious to get in-country and get to work.

Please keep the team members, their families and the people of Nepal in your thoughts and prayers!

Saturday, April 25: Update on VA-TF1/USA-1, we will be departing at 1100 tonight from our Task Force headquarters at 14000 block of Flint Lee Road.

Photos: Task force, Northern Virginia Fire Buffs, Derrick Welsh and Debi Gerald; US Mission to NATO Verified account @USNATO, Fairfax County Urban Search + Rescue Team on C-17 Globemaster III, deploying to #Nepal to assist with rescue efforts.