South King Fire & Rescue has sent five firefighters with specialized training to help in the rescue and recovery efforts at the mud slide tragedy in Snohomish County. Firefighters Gary White, Paul Mernaugh and Travis Mckenney along with Lieutenants Roy Smith and Shane Smith are all a part of a specialized FEMA Task Force that is sent to emergencies throughout the country. On Monday night they got the word that they were to be deployed as a part of the FEMA Puget Sound task Force to the mud slide near the town of Oso in Snohomish County. The team was activated at 7:30 Monday night, the firefighters were relieved of duty at the fire station and reported to the staging area where the task force stores all their equipment. They left during the night with 2 two semi -trucks and several trailers laden with equipment and 76 firefighters from the region. They drove through the night and arrived at the base camp near the slide at five AM. They went directly to a briefing about the work and their roles and were sent straight to work searching for victims and did not return to camp until late Tuesday night. Wednesday morning at first light they were sent back out as part of the massive effort searching through the more than one square mile of mud and debris that overwhelmed roads , houses, and cars that is up to fifteen feet deep in areas.
The Federal Government maintains 28 highly trained search and rescue teams throughout the United States that are made up of local firefighters, 12 teams are on call at any time. Team members each have a specialty and their enhanced training is provided by their local departments and FEMA. When they are deployed to a disaster the Federal Government picks up the bill for their time and the cost of filling their shifts while they are deployed. Our fire department is fortunate to have 9 members who participate in USAR team. USAR stands for Urban Search And Rescue. South King Fire & Rescue benefits directly from their expertise and training at very little cost to our taxpayers.