COLUMBUS, Ohio — An 80-member search and rescue task force deployed from Ohio Wednesday to the site of the deadly condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla., officials said.
Ohio Task Force 1 departed from Vandalia, Ohio in the Dayton-area to join the effort on the wreckage of the Champlain Towers South building. The task force had been on standby since Thursday, the day of the collapse.
The team is comprised of fire, police and medical responders, including members of the Dayton Fire Department and the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department, among other agencies.
Last week, the team loaded up 50,000 lbs. of life saving equipment in preparation for the mission, Evan Schumann, the task force’s program manager, told Spectrum News 1’s Tino Bovenzi.
“A building collapse of this magnitude is what we were created to do,” he said.
Schumann said it would take 21 or 22 hours for the task force to get to Florida from the time the Federal Emergency Management Agency made the call for assistance.
The Ohio unit was traveling with several K-9 search teams, Ohio Task Force 1 spokesperson Phil Sinewe said in a release.
The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department said Wednesday evening the task force will be supporting crews in the search for survivors. The department said the duration of the deployment was undetermined at this time.