Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lending a hand
Local firefighters aid in hurricane rescue and recovery
Just a few weeks after returning from deployment assisting victims of Hurricane Florence, one Chester County firefighter is headed back into harm’s way as Hurricane Michael heads on shore. West Chester’s Fame Fire Company firefighter Brad Cosgrove is being deployed to the Gulf Coast as part of PA Task Force-1, an urban search and rescue outfit overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Cosgrove is a Medical Specialist with Task Force-1,based in Philadelphia. They are traveling to Alabama one of the states in the bulls-eye of the Category 4 storm. There are 28 of these FEMA teams spread throughout the continental United States
trained and equipped by FEMA to handle structural collapse.
In September Cosgrove, Fame firefighter Bill Cummings and Mark Koenig of East Whiteland Fire Company were deployed to the Atlantic Coast with Task Force-1. Fame firefighter Steve McDonald, a Rescue Specialist responded with Maryland Task Force 1.
Cummings, a volunteer firefighter for 40 years, 21 at Fame said in a recent phone interview that members of the team have to be ready to deploy in a matter of hours when they get the call and the task force needs to be on the road in four to six hours. He said
the Task-Force, which includes numerous members and trucks has to be self sufficient for 72 hours. During Hurricane Florence they had 18 vehicles including tractor trailers and boats.
The team is made up of a number of different specialists, that bring expertise to the incident. Among them are, medical specialists, hazmat and structural specialists.
Cummings said nearly half the team are Philadelphia firefighters but there are also firefighters from all over state and some members of other professions such as structural engineers and physicians.
The task force typically consists of 80-90 members, Cummings said, though it can be scaled down when necessary.
“It’s a pretty small group,
there are only 6,000 people in country that do it,” said Cummings. “They are very highly trained and well experienced.”
Cummings is a technical search specialist. He uses fiber optics and acoustic devices to search for victims to trapped in collapsed buildings. He and eight other Fame firefighters took part in a week-long training course at Texas A&M’s ‘Disaster City’ to become certified as a disaster technical search specialist.
At Disaster City, large rubble piles and collapsed structures are a big playground for rescuers to train. The training site was developed from real events that rescuers have encountered.
Cummings, a Registered Nurse is a clinical sales specialist with Medtronic in his civilian career. He
said task-force members couldn’t do this if their primary employer didn’t sign off on it. Members of the task-force are paid by their normal full-time employers who sign an agreement with the city of Philadelphia, which sponsors TaskForce-1. The city reimburses the company, and is then reimbursed by FEMA.
Cummings said he has a tremendous support system at home to be able to take part in the task-force. He and his wife Cheryl, have five children, the oldest of whom is married. He said during a deployment members of the task force send out emails to keep family updated.
Cummings said in South Carolina, the Pennsylvania rescuers were assigned to the perimeter of the worst of the hurricane damage.
They worked with members of the South Carolina National Guard who had high clearance trucks to search flooded areas.
“The areas were pretty well flooded,” said Cummings. “Some with wind damage, not an area of mass devastation. We were sent out to roadways with cars swept off road to check for occupants. What we do is based on what the local needs are.”
Cummings said the group took part in wide area searches. Teams of five to 10 specialists would search a grid using compass and GPS.
Much of their work involved reporting damage to roadways and bridges. The work is documented, and specialists back at the base camp upload their data, keeping up in real time.
Cummings said non-governmental organizations such as the Salvation Army and local churches provided much welcome places to stay for respite.
“I was amazed at the kindness of the people down there to make us feel welcome,” Cummings said. “We stayed at a couple churches on the way and only on one night did we not have power or access to anything. We ate MRE’s (Meals ready to eat) that night.”
“There was plenty of food, In fact I may have put on a few pounds,” he laughed.
“I enjoy doing what I do. It really is a tremendous honor to be on this,” Cummings said when asked if he would continue working with Task Force-1. “I signed up for the long haul. Its a worthy effort from FEMA.”