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South Florida first responders head north to help areas hardest hit by Sally

MIAMI ā€“ First responders from South Florida are heading up north to help some of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Sally.

ā€œOur big concern is going to be the amount of flooding, the water thatā€™s going to happen in the panhandle,ā€ said Scott Dean, task force leader of Urban Search and Rescue Florida.

The task force met up in Miami Wednesday morning to check in before shipping up to Tallahassee as Sally continues to flood the panhandle.

ā€œTask force members sacrifice their home life, their work life, they do leave for an extended period of time -- the commitment is 14 days,ā€ Dean said.

The task force is made up of first responders, doctors, engineers, and K9 units.

The K9s are trained to find humans who are still alive in collapsed structures in these disaster situations.

ā€œItā€™s wonderful. Especially the fact we can save somebodyā€™s life,ā€ K9 handler Ana Kaufmann said.

The team was last deployed to Puerto Rico following the earthquake there, and before that they were sent to the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian.

ā€œThe added element for them is to do it while maintaining precautions relative to COVID. This is the first time theyā€™re deploying under COVID-19,ā€ City of Miami Fire Rescue Chief Joe Zahralban said.

Itā€™s a heroā€™s task the group is ready to take on.

ā€œUltimately, everyone understands what weā€™re here for,ā€ Dean said. ā€œWeā€™re here to help people. Thatā€™s what our day jobs are, so this is just an extra opportunity to go out and help people.ā€


About the Author
Saira Anwer headshot

Saira Anwer joined the Local 10 News team in July 2018. Saira is two-time Emmy-nominated reporter and comes to South Florida from Madison, Wisconsin, where she was working as a reporter and anchor.

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