CREST HAVEN — Local assistance has been sent to the Carolinas to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence.
Members of Cape May County’s Regional Urban Search Team (R.U.S.T.) and other local firefighters were dispatched last week as a part of a state task force and remain on site.
Hurricane Florenceis responsible for more than 15 deaths after the storm hit the coast Sept.15-17. The hurricane dropped more than 30 inches of rain in some portions of the Carolinas, and more than 500,000 homes and businesses were without power.
“We have seen here in New Jersey how impactful a major storm can be,” stated Cape May County Freeholder Director Gerald M. Thornton, liaison to the County’s Office of Emergency Management, in a release. “Our state received so much help from others with events like Superstorm Sandy, the right thing to do is assist them when they are in need.”
The local R.U.S.T. team was trained by Task Force 1, which is the New Jersey State Police rescue team. The R.U.S.T. unit is especially useful to help rescue efforts in tight spaces, where a building collapsed, or other difficult rescue points.
“We work to ensure we have local resources available to assist if we have a situation in Cape May County where we have a hard time getting someone out of a building,” stated Cape May County Office of Emergency Management Director Martin Pagliughi. “It is tough to see the news and see what is going on down there. Our team will do whatever they can to help those in need.”
Matt Johnson of the Wildwood Fire Department and Bill Szemcsak of the Cape May Fire Department are members of the R.U.S.T. team on site.
The non-R.U.S.T. members on-site include Dale Gentek with Villas Fire Department, Don Montgomery from Cape May Fire Department, and Brad Ladislaw of North Wildwood Fire Department.
The team assisted in evacuations in Wilmington, N.C. They were heading to Elizabethtown, N.C. to assist with rescue and evacuations.
They are still deployed and may be there another two weeks. Those team members have had special high-water rescue training.
The county R.U.S.T. team conducts continuous year-round training in all types of heavy rescue situations.
“This is just one of the situations we train our people to handle both in county and provide mutual aid to our neighbors,” stated team leader Fire Chief Daniel Speigel, Wildwood Fire Department.
The Cape May County R.U.S.T. team was organized in 2015 by the county Office of Emergency Management with grant assistance provided by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
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