KETTERING — UPDATE @ 4:20 p.m. (Sept. 6):
Ohio Task Force 1 has been demobilized for Hurricane Dorian.
The 84-member team will travel partway home tonight, and is expected to arrive Saturday afternoon at its Kettering warehouse, according to Phil Sinewe, the task force’s public information officer.
“Team members are glad to be heading home after traveling over 2,400 miles, staging in multiple states, for potential damage from Hurricane Dorian,” Sinewe said. “While the team is prepared and motivated to help people in their time of need, being able to come home knowing that Hurricane Dorian kept her worst damaging power out at sea is gratifying in itself. This storm had all the potential to be a history maker. The team is glad no history was made this week.”
EARLIER REPORT
An 84-member Ohio Task Force 1 team remains in the southeastern United States as Hurricane Dorian continues to churn in the Atlantic Ocean.
HURRICANE DORIAN: Storm downgraded to Category 2 Wednesday, starts track north
The team was first deployed Friday to southern Florida where forecasts initially predicted Dorian was going to make landfall. However due to the changes in the forecast, OH-TF1 is moving to the Augusta, Georgia area as Dorian begins to take a more northerly track, Phil Sinewe, Ohio Task Force 1 Public Information Officer said in a media release Tuesday.
>>PREVIOUS REPORT: Hurricane Dorian: Ohio Task Force 1 activated
“As we have all witnessed, hurricanes do not cooperate with the predication center on exact landfall,” Sinewe said. “So our team, along with many other FEMA assets are designed specifically to be able to move at a moment’s notice, to best deliver service to the state and local communities in need.”
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The Type I team, comprised of 84 members, consists of members trained to conduct searches and provide rescue and medical duties to areas hit by disasters.
Ohio Task Force 1 and 16 other FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams were initially activated and dispatched to Florida late last week.
