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Pennsylvania Task Force One is one of 28 response teams
certified by FEMA to operate throughout the US. Each team must
be able to respond within 6 hrs and cover a 1200 mile radius.
These resources would not respond outside of the US or it
territories.
In
2002 the team moved into the new Governor Mark Schweiker
Special Operation Center in Harrisburg. This facility is
shared by the Dauphin County Hazmat Response Team, Dauphin
County SWAT, and PA FT1
While the task force pulls personnel from all over the state
and region significant resources are provided by the
Harrisburg
Bureau of Fire. This includes shop-repair personnel,
administration, and of course team members.
Pennsylvania is currently organizing and training the members
of Pa Task Force 2. This team was proposed by then Governor
Mark Schweiker and will respond to incidents with Pennsylvania
only. This would ensure a team is always available to assist
the residents of the Keystone State
USAR Facts
For
every US&R task force, there are 62 positions. But to be sure
a full team can respond to an emergency, the task forces have
at the ready more than 130 highly-trained members.
A
task force is really a partnership between local fire
departments, law enforcement agencies, federal and local
governmental agencies and private companies.
A
task force is totally self-sufficient for the first 72 hours
of a deployment.
The
equipment cache used to support a task force weighs nearly
60,000 pounds and is worth about $1.4 million. Add the task
force members to the cache and you can completely fill a
military C-141 transport or two C130's.
Training requirements are intensive, to say the least. In
addition to being an Emergency Medical Technician, each task
force member must complete hundreds of hours of training.
Specialties such as K-9 search, rescue and rigging carry their
own training requirements.
What the task
force can do:
•
Conduct physical search-and-rescue in collapsed buildings
•
Emergency medical care to trapped victims
•
Search-and-rescue dogs
•
Assessment and control of gas, electric service and hazardous
materials
•
Evaluation and stabilization of damaged structures
After 9-11 FEMA realized the hardships of moving the teams by
air when dealing with an incident of that type. Teams are now
equipped with semi trucks pre-load and ready for quick
response. Teams would be dispatched to incidents no more than
1200 miles from their home facility and drive their equipment
to the disaster scene. PaFT1 operates 4 semi trucks and 3
smaller box trucks. Three of the semis haul team members and
necessary equipment, the third is a command and communications
vehicle. The small box trucks are used for strike team
operations, smaller first response units staged through the
state.
Pa Task Force One was deployed on September 12
2001 to the world trade center disaster. This is to date the
only large scale deployment by the team. . Photos galleries of
the teams activities at the World Trade Center can be found at
Pa TF1 WTC Galleries
All teams are required to conduct one mock
deployment annually |
