Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the deployment of specialized urban search and rescue teams on Friday to assist at the collapsed condo building in Surfside, Florida.
The collapse of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium building just outside Miami, has killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. Search and rescue teams are still on-site looking for survivors.
There are 28 National FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces in the continental United States, with eight in California. Prompted by a request by FEMA, California personnel will be joining the rescue efforts in Surfside.
Urban search and rescue forces specialize in extricating and stabilizing victims trapped in confined spaces.
Members of the California-FEMA task forces that will be deploying come from within the Oakland Fire Department, Orange County Fire Authority, Sacramento City Fire Department and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
California-based task forces have been deployed to numerous state and national disaster sites since 1992, including the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Other California-based state and FEMA Task Forces include:
CA Task Force 1 Los Angeles City Fire
CA Task Force 2 Los Angeles County Fire
CA Task Force 3 Menlo Park Fire Protection District
CA Task Force 4 Oakland Fire Department
CA Task Force 5 Orange County Fire Authority
CA Task Force 6 Riverside City Fire Department
CA Task Force 7 Sacramento City Fire Department
CA Task Force 8 San Diego Fire-Rescue Department
Cal Office of Emergency Services will continue to monitor operations and requests for resources for Florida.
