KANSAS CITY —Two Kansas City Fire Department firefighters have deployed as part of Missouri Task Force 1 (MO-TF1), a specialized 50-member search and rescue team activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to KCFD Battalion Chief Riley Nolan.
The team departed from Boone County Fire Protection District Headquarters in Columbia, Missouri July 7 and are traveling to Kerr County, Texas.
MO-TF1 is being deployed in response to widespread flooding in the region. Their mission will focus on swift water rescue operations and Human Remains Detection (HRD). Upon arrival, the team is expected to join Colorado Task Force 1 and begin operations later this afternoon. The deployment is anticipated to last up to 14 days.
Missouri Task Force 1 is an elite FEMA urban search and rescue team made up of firefighters, paramedics, physicians, structural engineers, canine handlers, and technical experts from across Missouri. These highly trained professionals are capable of deploying anywhere in the country at a moment’s notice to assist with disaster response, including floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and man-made incidents. Equipped to operate in challenging and hazardous environments, the team provides capabilities in search, rescue, medical care, logistics, wide area search and incident management.