In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destructive and deadly path, members of Alabama’s Task Force One (AL-TF1) Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR/US&R) are mobilizing. The crew is responding after North Carolina requested aid.
Members of the task force left from Mobile on Friday, transporting water rescue assets, gear, supplies, tools, and other necessary equipment where needed.
The Type 1 swift water team will have 18 members, comprised of 16 MFRD personnel (field operatives and staff), and two members from Mobile County Communications District.
As of Friday, the death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached at least 44.
Helene has left an enormous path of destruction across Florida and the entire southeastern U.S. The Category 4 hurricane made landfall Thursday in Florida, snapping trees like twigs, tearing apart homes and sending rescue crews on desperate and dangerous missions to save people from floodwaters.
The damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where Alabama Task Force One will be on standby and awaiting orders for aid.
The crew is a self-sustained team, specializing in search and rescue, technical rescue, water rescue, trench operations, structural collapse operations and more.
The Mobile Fire-Rescue Department says it's honored to be able to provide aid in any form, as the department empathizes with communities experiencing natural disasters.
