Search and Rescue task forces train for disasters

As rescue efforts continue after Tuesday’s catastrophic earthquake in Italy, Central Missouri task forces continue to prepare for a similar situation in the U.S.

Gale Blomenkamp, Assistant Chief with the Boone County Fire Protection District, said the work with the Missouri Task Force 1 has taken them into some of the most disastrous situations in recent memory.

“We were actually entering the city of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina was passing though,” Blomenkamp said.

The Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces have been certified across the U.S. since the early 1990s. The 28 task forces are certified, trained and funded by the federal government, and can be activated for any type of emergency: earthquakes, hurricanes, and even man-made disasters.

Blomenkamp said when the task forces are deployed by the government, things move pretty quickly. Around 80 team members have about 4 hours to start heading toward the area they’ve been called. Once they get there, timing can mean life or death.

“In 24 hours, you’re still looking for survivors,” Blomenkamp said. “As time goes on from the event, the possibility of survival diminishes fairly quickly.”

The task force trains for these events using equipment provided by the government, seismic listening devices and fiber-optic cameras being a few. And being one of the only task forces located in the Midwest – others can be found in Nebraska, Tennessee and Indiana – task force members in Boone County have to be ready.

“There was a need identified in the central part of the United States,” said Blomenkamp, “and that’s when Missouri Task Force One became one. And as we speak today, there are 28 (task forces) in 19 different states. So Boone County and Task Force One being right here in our backyard is quite impressive.”