Louisiana emergency responders are in Florida and South Carolina to assist with the potential impact of Hurricane Dorian. Deputy Director of the governor’s office of homeland security and emergency preparedness, Casey Tingle, says about 200 men and women have been deployed.
“Seven ambulance teams, fuel support personnel from the Department of Agriculture and Forestry and then our three urban search and rescue task force team which is composed of local first responders from across the state,” said Tingle.
A ten-member Incident Support Team, specializing in disaster deployment operations and logistics is in South Carolina to offer their expertise in organizing and managing numerous search and rescue teams responding to multiple missions at once.
Over 100 Louisiana Urban Search and Rescue personnel and assets left Baton Rouge Monday, bringing with them boats to conduct high water rescues to Florida. Tingle says these units are made up of firefighters from around the state and will be stationed in Jacksonville.
Tingle says Louisiana received assistance from other states during its major hurricanes and it’s returning the favor.
“And so anytime there is an opportunity for us to support our fellow states in these type of events, we do that,” said Tingle.
