A regional Type 1 HazMat strike team from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the West Palm Beach Fire Department and Delray Beach Fire Rescue left Saturday morning to help communities in Northwest Florida recover after Hurricane Isaias made landfall there.
The team had less than 24 hours to prepare after receiving deployment orders. It departed PBCFR headquarters for Tallahassee, where it will receive an assignment in the Panhandle.
The crew’s job is to contain hazardous materials and protect residents and responders. That frees other fire and emergency management units to handle urgent calls. Hurricanes often cause fuel spills, gas leaks and chemical releases that require specialized responders.
PBCFR said on Facebook that its crews are “heading toward someone else’s hardest day,” and that the county prepares for the day it may need help in return.
The HazMat team deployed the same week as other Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade units. On Thursday, about 30 firefighters from PBCFR’s Urban Search and Rescue Team left on the county’s first state mission. Nearly 90 members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, including four canine teams, also traveled to the Panhandle.
