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

9/17/2008

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 deployment to Louisiana in response to Hurricane Ike. The 34-member team will return at approximately 5 p.m., Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at the Department’s Fire and Rescue Academy, 4600 West Ox Road, Fairfax, Virginia. 

 Virginia Task Force 1 was activated Thursday, September 11, and deployed to Alexandria, Louisiana to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The VA-TF1 along with Missouri Task Force, the Virginia State Police, and Louisiana State Wildlife and Fisheries conducted search and rescue operations on foot and in boats in the Cameron Parish and Lake Calcasieu area in Louisiana. They provided food, water, and ice to families who were affected by the floods, and isolated for several days.

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.

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.