OHIO — Ohio Task Force 1 left Dayton on Tuesday with more than 80 members skilled in various aspects of search and rescue. The team is now in Florida helping local first responders with recovery. 

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio Task Force 1 has been deplopyed to Florida as part of Hurricane Helene's recovery response

  • Two emergency medicine physicians from OSU Wexner Medical Center have deployed with Ohio Task Force 1

  • Ohio Task Force 1 is a team of 82 people with about 13 vehicles

  • Ohio Task Force 1 team member told Spectrum News their biggest concern are the areas along the Florida coast that saw six to eight feet of storm surge

Dr. Daniel Bachmann and Dr. Nicholas Kman, emergency medicine physicians at OSU Wexner Medical Center, are deployed with Ohio Task Force 1.

Kman said Friday afternoon the team was staged a couple of counties north of Tampa and are there to help support local first responders. He’s been with Ohio Task Force 1 since 2009, and this is his sixth disaster deployment. He said he’s seeing wind damage with downed trees and shingles off roofs, but their biggest concern is the areas along the Florida coast that saw six to eight feet of storm surge.

“I was at Hurricane Ian a couple of years ago that impacted a similar area and I think storm surge is very concerning to us,” Kman said. “So what we saw at that hurricane, and what we expect to see here are victims that had to, you know, frankly, tread water or be immersed in water, or maybe go to the roof of their house or experience flooding and wind and so people might have, you know, skin and soft tissue injuries. We might see minor trauma, we might find people who didn’t survive, actually, and we do have a search and a K-9 unit with us.”

He said the team is heading near the coast to some of the smaller homes, including trailer homes the storm surge has affected. He said some of those homeowners had to go on top of their homes and seek higher ground because of the high waters.

Ohio Task Force 1 is a team of 82 people with about 13 vehicles. He said they will likely help with multiple counties while there. 

Right now they’re in the response phase and are looking for people in immediate danger, but the locals affected who are now without power and water, will likely face some hardship ahead. 

“Right now, in the disaster phase, we’re in the response phase, but the recovery phase can take months, weeks, you know, before power can be restored, before a roof can be repaired, before somebody can reenter their dwelling. You know, again, people are without their medicine. They’re been separated maybe from their family or their pets,” Kman said. “We’ll move on to another news cycle, but the folks down here will still be dealing with what happened to them overnight.”

For updated information about Tropical Storm Helene, click here.

Related Stories