Utah Firefighters Heading East to Help With Hurricane Florence
Sep 11, 2018, 6:32 AM | Updated: 9:42 am
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – More than one dozen Utah firefighters will be helping with Hurricane Florence efforts.
United Fire Authority Public Information Officer Ryan Love said the team will specialize in water rescue.
FEMA ordered UFA to mobilize a Task Force 1 Mission Ready Package. The group is made up of 12 UFA firefighters, two from Salt Lake City, one from Park City, and one unaffiliated firefighter.
“Many people think that the strong winds will cause a lot of damage, and they do,” Love said. “But the biggest issue that we deal with is actually the flooding that’s caused.”
The crew is currently heading to Bowling Green, Virginia. Last year, they went to Texas.
Love said they expect to help in a similar way this time around.
“Our team is very well-versed in these types of scenarios, hurricane season,” he said. “We actually call this time the lean forward, or lean to time, as far as September and August being hurricane season. We’ve been well-versed in that within the last few years.”