Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department
4100 Chain Bridge Rd, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: 703-246-3801, TTY: 711 and Fax:703-385-1687
Duty PIO (Weekends/After-hours): 703-280-0694
Media Information Line: 703-324-3000
Email: fire-rescue.Pa-LSE@fairfaxcounty.gov
Website: www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fire

9/10/2008

Virginia Task Force 1 Returns

Virginia Task Force 1 (VA-TF1), Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, returns today from a week-long deployment to Georgia and Florida in response to Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike. The 80-member team will return at approximately 1 p.m., at the Department’s Fire and Rescue Academy, 4600 West Ox Road, Fairfax, Virginia. 

 Virginia Task Force 1 was activated Sunday, August 31, staging in Atlanta, Georgia. Due to continued threat from Hurricanes Hanna and Ike, VA-TF1 along with Nebraska Task Force 1, and elements of the Red Incident Support Team relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, Saturday, September 6. 

The FEMA Type I task force conducted mandated readiness training in conjunction with other FEMA task forces while in a staging posture anticipating the oncoming hurricanes. The team received demobilization orders Tuesday, September 9, to return home as the threat from Hurricane Ike lessened on the east coast.

As local disaster resource, VA-TF1 is one of 28 FEMA-sponsored teams, and one of only two US-based teams capable of no-notice world-wide deployment through an agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The team has responded internationally to natural and manmade disasters, including earthquakes in Turkey, Taiwan, and Iran, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9-11 Pentagon attack, and the tsunami in Indonesia last year. 

News representatives will have an opportunity to interview selected team members upon their arrival.  However, team members will not be available for several days following their return.

For more information, call Daniel L. Schmidt or Lieutenant Raúl G. Castillo, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, 703-246-3801 and TTY 711. Fairfax County is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in all county programs, services and activities. Reasonable accommodations will be provided upon request.