Specialized Team Looks For Missing Colo. Woman
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.
An urban search and rescue team has been called in to help find a woman missing in the burn area of the Lower North Fork Fire.
The fire started Monday afternoon near Aspen Park and Reynolds Park in Jefferson County.
A team of 34 people and four dogs were sent into the burn area on Wednesday to look for the woman, according to West Metro Fire Division Chief Mike Murphy.
Jacki Kelley, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said the team would be starting their search at the woman's home, then planning to move out from there.
Members will be are assigned certain areas and will search all structures, damaged or not, Murphy explained.
The woman's home was in the mandatory evacuation area for the fire.
The woman has a great deal of family at the command center, Kelley said. Witnesses said the woman's husband appeared frantic at the fire command center on Tuesday.
Urban Search & Rescue Teams
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has 28 urban search and rescue teams throughout the United States.
The teams are comprised of firefighters, engineers, medical professionals, canine/handler teams and emergency managers with special training in urban search-and-rescue environments.
The Colorado team includes people from several fire department including Arvada Fire, Aurora Fire, Castle Rock Fire, Cunningham Fire, Denver Fire. Fort Carson Fire, Littleton Fire Rescue, Longmont Fire, Parker Fire, Poudre Fire, South Metro Fire and West Metro Fire.
The team going into the Lower North Fork Fire area on Wednesday includes people from West Metro Fire, South Metro Fire, Arvada Fire, Poudre Fire, Denver Fire, Westminster Fire, Longmont Fire and five civilians.
Urban search and rescue teams have been used to recue victims at the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, the terroist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the Northridge earthquake and other disasters.
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