Pa. House joins Senate in endorsing an urban search-and-rescue team

HARRISBURG — The state House on Wednesday unanimously endorsed the creation of a high-level urban search-andrescue team in Allegheny County, a vote which — coupled with a similar Senate action last month — gave a strong indication such a team is likely to come together.

Brian Kokkila, assistant chief for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire and a regional search-and-rescue task force leader, was present in the Capitol for the Senate vote last month. He was in the House gallery Wednesday to watch the 201-0 vote there.

“I have been coming up here frequently to make sure this piece of legislation moves in both chambers,” Mr. Kokkila said. “It is good, so good, to see a good bill pass in such a bipartisan way.”

The House bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Dan Miller, D-Allegheny, credited firefighters with bringing the original concept for the bill to lawmakers. He cited the Jan. 28, 2022, collapse of the Fern Hollow bridge as an example of a situation where a high-level team could have helped.

There were no deaths in that incident, but making that determination was delayed by the lack of nearby search-and-rescue assets with specially trained canine units.

To maximize chances of getting a bill passed in Harrisburg, lawmakers sometimes introduce identical versions of the bill in both the House and Senate in the hope at least one of the chambers will pass it and then forward it to the other. In this case, the House version of the bill with the search-and-rescue team included had slight, technical differences when compared to the Senate bill, according to state Rep. Natalie Mihalek, R-Allegheny.

It was not immediately clear which bill would advance first into the other chamber.

Nonetheless, Ms. Mihalek said the passage of the concept in both chambers showed “we have set ourselves up for success.” Mr. Miller said, “We will be working to find the best vehicle to get across the finish line.”

Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny, said he, too, believed Wednesday’s vote made final approval of the concept more likely.

“It doesn’t matter which bill they use, just that Pittsburgh gets the equipment they really need,” Mr. Robinson said.