VANDALIA — As Tropical Storm Idalia moves into Florida’s Gulf Coast, Ohio Task Force 1 has been activated, according to the task force’s public information officer.
>>RELATED: Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to become a hurricane and move toward Florida, forecasters say
A 47-person Type III team, which includes two canines, rescue, medical, and hazardous materials specialists, a planning team, a command structure, and more will be departing from Vandalia at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
“Convoy will be 18 vehicles, several semis, box trucks, a bus, pickup trucks, hauling utility vehicles, and boats because we have water rescue capability as well as a ground search capability,” OH-TF1 Task Force Leader Jim O’Connor said.
O’Connor said the team would be transported to Atlanta to stage, but if the forecast worsens, they wouldn’t be surprised if they were moved to a different location.
“We will be going down into the Atlanta area, we are staging for the hurricane that’s expected to hit Florida, early Wednesday morning, it’s upgrading quickly from the forecast to a major hurricane. So they’re going to put some resources in the areas so that we’ll be quicker activated and be able to be in areas of need as quickly as possible,” O’Connor said.
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Ohio Task Force 1 members are trained with multiple capabilities, allowing them to have a swift water rescue team and the ability to search across large areas to identify any victims.
“So there’s some confidence that every area has been touched or checked, should there be buildings a collapse in the area, we have the equipment to be able to work on a collapsed building, and be able to perform any rescues necessary under the flat structure,” O’Connor said.
As of Monday morning, Idalia’s winds are up to 65 miles per hour, but they are expected to strengthen. The storm has been forecasted to become a category 3 hurricane before making landfall along Flordia’s Gulf Coast Wednesday morning.
“We have good weather forecasting, we can predict a little bit of what’s coming in so we can pre-position some resources. So you know, a house fire or something doesn’t give us a notice... So this gives us the ability to prep some things,” O’Connor said.
>>RELATED: PHOTOS: Ohio Task Force 1 K-9s, handlers return from Maui
To prepare for their travels south, O’Connor said the team is working to load equipment onto their trucks, get trailers attached, and make sure all of the equipment is in place and accounted for.
“Our goal is to assist the local people, the local authorities. When we go down, we always work for the local authorities, we don’t come in and take over anything we assist them with their needs and the people who are having some of the worst days of their lives that have been impacted by the storms, were able to go down and provide them some reassurance help deal with the issues that they are facing,” O’Connor said.
According to Evan Schumann, Program Manager of OH-TF1, Tennessee Task Force 1 is also activated as a Type III team.
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