SACRAMENTO — Even though Hurricane Helene happened in Florida, first rescuers from California are going there to help.
Approximately 120 first responders from all over California, including Sacramento, are helping in a variety of ways. As a management role, Sacramento is working with other federal response members from across the country.
Deputy Chief of Special Operations HazMat Larry Collins with the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) emphasized how important this national reaction was by saying, “We go there because it’s about neighbor helping neighbor.” “They’d help us if something bad happened.”
As part of a plan that began in the 1990s, rescue workers are sent to areas where they are most needed on a rotating basis. Collins says that this assistance between people is necessary.
“When it happens here in California and we need the help, we can rely on these other 20 urban search and rescue teams from other states to help us,” Collins stated.
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On Friday, teams from Southern California, such as Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, and San Diego, started their work.
Team members from Sacramento were ready to go on Tuesday, going to Orlando to be ready to help if the weather or storm track changed.
“We’re coordinating the movement of all these search and rescue and swift water assets,” he said. “It’s intense. They’re not protecting themselves from the rain. In some cases, they are in the dark. Trees and power lines are falling over there.
Charlie Lubowicki from the FEMA US&R Incident Support Team is providing public information with the Sacramento team. During these kinds of situations, he said it was important for everyone to bring their own skills to the table.
“It’s a testament to the system that has been built here in the United States,” Lubowicki noted. “Those who go to wildfires and are in these large dynamic events all the time, and so they have a very special skill set that when they come out east, they are able to bring to the planning process.”
FEMA’s help is very important to this operation; since this is a nationally declared disaster, FEMA will reimburse California for the costs of sending these teams. This support lets the state use its resources without putting local emergency response skills at risk.
People have been reassured by officials that California has a lot of resources ready for “no notice emergencies” like earthquakes, even though wildfire season is still going on. Commitments to national crisis relief don’t affect the state’s ability to handle local emergencies.
