Being prepared for the worst possible situation is something everyone wants out of their fire departments. Right now, Savannah and a dozen other departments are training for some of those worst-case scenarios, hoping they never have to use those skills.
It's part of the Coastal Georgia Search and Rescue Task Force, and it's getting firefighters ready to cut through concrete, and dig through collapsed buildings to get to people in desperate need of help.
No matter what the scenario, the search and rescue task force thinks they'll have the right tools.
"Whether it's hammers, chisels, drills, whatever it is that they need," said Capt. William Handy. "We're trying to equip the teams that are trying to get in right now."
Some of the best firefighters from around the Coastal Empire have been training in Savannah for more than a week, as part of a group effort at something special.
"I counted last night, and there are 13 different counties that are involved in this, so this is excellent," said James Vickers, chief of Savannah Fire Department's special operations.
The task force came together after the September 11 attacks, when crews all over the country realized they couldn't handle something of that scope on their own.
"For a FEMA team to get on the scene, I think you're looking at 12 to 24 hours realistically," explained Capt. Ben Morse. "This team can be up and operational in a much shorter time period."
"Not everyone can have this type of equipment we have now, and we got it off of a grant, that's the only reason we really had it," Vickers said.
Firefighters say they've had situations before where this kind of training would have helped: like in 2001, when they had to amputate a man's arm to get him out of a collapsed building in Savannah.
"I can say in the past maybe six years, I know of at least three that have collapsed," said Handy. "Whether they were being refurbished or moved. And this will play a vital role to the education we will need as responders to have to deal with those situations."
This new task force won't be the type of group that will spend several days working on the same scene. It's designed to cover the first 12 hours while they wait for federal experts to show up.
Republished with permission of WTOC.
