FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Two Urban Search and Rescue Teams, one from Fairfax County, Virginia, one from Montgomery County, Maryland have returned from the Gulf Coast after being deployed for Hurricane Laura.
Virginia Task Force One and Maryland Task Force One were both activated by FEMA on August 26th. Each task force sent teams of 45 people to the Gulf Coast to help deal with the damage from Hurricane Laura which hit the region as a Category 4 storm.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer Tweeted that MDTF-1 members were sent to Montgomery, Alabama. A spokesman for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department said VATF-1 members were also sent to Alabama.
Both teams tweeted that FEMA and Gulf Coast region states had reevaluated damage estimates from Laura and that caused FEMA to adjust the federal response to the storm.
Both teams were deactivated Friday and arrived home today. The team from Montgomery included firefighters from Prince George's and Howard counties.
This was the first deployment for both teams during the pandemic so VATF-1's homecoming wasn't met by the usual crowd of family members.
