Windham Firefighters Deployed to Assist Hurricane Rescue Efforts

Two Windham firefighters have been assisting in the Hurricane Sandy rescue efforts in New York City, joining 80 men and women as part of a regional task force.

According to Windham Fire Chief Tom McPherson, Lieutenant/Paramedic Jay Moltenbrey and Firefighter/Paramedic Jason Silver were deployed to assist the Massachusetts Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Task Force.

The task force, according to McPherson, is one of FEMA's 28 task forces in the country.

The two firefighers accompanied the rescue unit on Oct. 28, the day before the strom hit. McPherson said the Windham department is keeping both men in their thoughts and prayers for a safe return home.

"When you know that other areas of the country need help and that (there are) teams in which members of your department are a part of, you're happy to support their mission," he said.

The task forces consist of two 31-person teams, four canines and a comprehensive equipment cache. Task force members work in four areas of specialization: Search, rescue, technical and medical.

Should a disaster event warrant national task force support, FEMA deploys the closest three USAR's within six hours of notification, and additional teams if necessary. The task force supports state and local emergency responders' efforts to locate victims and manage recovery efforts.

A press release was provided to Windham Patch with a timeline of the Massachusetts task force's efforts:

• MA-TF1 was placed on “Alert” and then “Activated” by the State of Massachusetts as a Type I Task Force (80 member team) to stage in Bridgewater, MA during the storm in order to be centrally located to areas of anticipated impact.

• Several members of MA-TF1 participated in planning and response coordination activities at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) bunker and the FEMA Region I Regional Response Coordination Center as ESF-9 (Emergency Support Function 9, Urban Search & Rescue) representatives.

• Three members of MA-TF1 were “Activated” to serve on the Federal Incident Support Team (IST), an overhead management team that serves to assist in coordination and support of the National Urban Search & Rescue Response System.

• Once it was determined that Massachusetts did not require any significant Urban Search & Rescue resources, MA-TF1 was released by the State and available for federal service. Initially MA-TF1 was deployed to New Haven, CT where once again it was determined that no Urban Search & Rescue resources were required.

• MA-TF1 was subsequently deployed to Queens, NY and placed under FDNY Command to conduct search and surveys in the Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel and Rockaway areas where significant damage occurred and several hundred structures were searched.  Many residents chose to remain in the area and some residences were found to have significant levels of carbon monoxide from pumps and generators running after the storm.

• Subsequently MA-TF1 was deployed to the Great Kills area of Staten Island and conducted search and surveys operations of over 1600 structures.  Several areas along the coast were heavily damaged by Sandy and Search and Rescue activities were on-going in the area.

• Once it was determined that no additional Urban Search & Rescue missions were required, MA-TF1 demobilized and returned to our base in Beverly, MA to prepare for the next response, whenever and wherever it may be.