Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1

Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Miami-Dade County, Florida and sponsored by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department.^[1] The mission of FL-TF1 is to respond to natural and man-made disasters to provide search and rescue as well as both medical and communications support.^[2]

As with all FEMA Task Forces, FL-TF1 is trained in physical search and rescue in damaged or collapsed structures as well as in areas that have sustained significant flooding. Additionally the task force specializes in providing medical care at the scene of a disaster for trapped victims.^[3] FL-TF1 is also specifically trained in satellite communication systems that can be used in areas where normal communication infrastructure has been damaged.

Once notified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the team has a six-hour window to mobilize 70 team members to report to a prearranged departure point. FL-TF1 is composed mostly of personnel from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department but other outside specialists are brought in as needed. In addition, FL-TF1 has nine FEMA certified canine teams, each composed of a handler and a search dog.^[4]

History

In the early 1980s two fire departments, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department out of Fairfax County, Virginia worked together under an agreement with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide international search and rescue assistance in times of disaster.^[4] Starting in 1991, FEMA incorporated a USAR team into its federal response plan. These 20+ teams that would later become the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces were chosen throughout the country based on geographic location with local public safety departments as sponsoring agencies.^[4]

Deployments

Since its creation in the 1980s, FL-TF1 has responded to a wide range of disasters around the world.^[5]

Earthquakes

• 1985 Mexico City earthquake (Mexico City)
• 1986 San Salvador earthquake (El Salvador)
• 1988 Armenian earthquake (Armenia)
• 1990 Luzon earthquake (Philippines)
• 1997 Cariaco earthquake (Venezuela)
• 1999 Armenia, Colombia earthquake (Colombia)
• 1999 İzmit earthquake (Turkey)
• 1999 Jiji earthquake (Taiwan)
• 2010 Haiti earthquake (Haiti)

Weather disasters

Year	Event	Location
1988	Hurricane Gilbert	Jamaica
1989	Hurricane Hugo	Eastern Caribbean
1992	Hurricane Andrew	Miami
1995	Hurricane Luis	Caribbean
1995	Hurricane Marilyn	Caribbean
1995	Hurricane Opal	North Florida
2000	Flood	Mozambique
2000	Hurricane Keith	Belize
2004	Hurricane Charley	Charlotte County, Florida
2005	Hurricane Katrina	New Orleans, Louisiana
2008	Hurricane Gustav	Texas
2008	Hurricane Ike	Miami-Dade County, Florida
2017	Hurricane Irma	Florida Keys
2017	Hurricane Harvey	Texas
2017	Hurricane Maria	Puerto Rico
2018	Hurricane Florence	South Carolina
2018	Hurricane Michael	Florida Panhandle
2019	Hurricane Dorian	Puerto Rico,Florida & the Bahamas
2020	Hurricane Florence	South Carolina
2021	Hurricane Ida	Mississippi

Building explosions

• 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing
• 1996 - Colombo, Sri Lanka
• 1996 - Puerto Rico
• 2001 - Pentagon
• 2001 - World Trade Center

Airplane crashes

• 1995-96 - American Airlines Flight 965 - Buga, Colombia
• 1996 - ValuJet Flight 592 - Everglades, Florida

Communications support

• 1989 - Romania
• 1991 - Northern Iraq & Turkey
• 1994 - Rwanda
• 1994 - Haiti
• 1995 - Montserrat
• 1995 - Sierra Leone
• 1996 - Bosnia
• 1998 - Nairobi, Kenya

Building collapse

• 2007 - Barbados
• 2021 - Miami

References