Oklahoma FirefighterSeptember 202013
Oklahoma Task Force One Deployment Variations By Josh Pearcy, Oklahoma City FD Oklahoma Task Force One Urban Search & Rescue (OKTF-1 US&R) is a state asset that is scalable in its deployment model. Most of the time when someone thinks of the US&R team, they think of the large 70 person Type I or Type II structural collapse teams. While this is where it all started and the model used to build up the Oklahoma team, the needs of past disasters has lead to the system adapting and adding resources of many different sizes and shapes. Oklahoma’s state team can be deployed with as little as four or five members all the way up to the traditional 70-person structural collapse team. Some of the situations that drive the need for the modifications are specialty events like localized flooding, trench collapses or searching for missing persons. There are times where a local municipality may only need a single boat team of 4-5 members to assist for one to two days, or possibly just standby in case of a greater need arises during the flood event. The team has also responded as a smaller specialized unit with canine deployments on several occasions to assist with operations around the state -- one of the latest times being the tragic event of a search for two missing children in the Tulsa area.
These are examples of times that the full 70-person structural collapse team are simply not needed, but the equipment and resources that the team can provide could still be used. Questions often come up about what is needed to request assistance from Oklahoma Task Force 1 and what support is the requesting agency expected to provide. OKTF-1 can be requested at any time through the Oklahoma Emergency Management Resource Hotline. This is the same hotline that departments can use to request wildland task forces, helicopter water drops, water rescue resources and many other types of assistance. When the request is placed, they will ask for a few details like: • What is the current situation? • Who is currently in charge? • Where does the resources need to respond to? • Who is the point of contact for the event? After gathering these few answers, the request goes through a quick approval process depending on the nature of the request, and the resources are dispatched to your area. When it comes to the US&R team, the team responds as a self-sustainable resource with fuel, water, and supplies for the first 72 hours before needing to establish a supply chain for further operations. It is the goal of the US&R team to respond when requested and assist the local agency while working under the local agencies command structure and not depleting the local resources to support the lodging and care of the US&R team.
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