South Florida First Responders Headed To Louisiana
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - First responders from South Florida are on their way to Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Delta.
Forty-five members of Florida Task Force 2 will arrive Thursday afternoon, their main mission is to help with water rescues after Hurricane Delta passes.
The Florida Task Force 2 urban search and rescue members received their deployment orders Wednesday night from FEMA and were given four hours to get ready.
With the pandemic, missions like this are different. As members of the task force arrived at the staging area, they were given a rapid antigen test and a nasal swab test.
The team members packed communication equipment, swift water gear, heavy rescue equipment, their boats, and in light of the pandemic, their PPE.
"It makes it more difficult, but most of our members are firefighters, so they are on the frontlines dealing with COVID every day, so it's not unnormal for us at this point. It's normal operations. But we will be doing things to make sure we have the proper PPE on and follow all safety guidelines," said Assistant Miami Fire Chief Scott Dean.
When the team arrives, they'll familiarize themselves with the area and hunker down until the storm hits. When it passes, they'll get to work and they are prepared for a lot of water.
