Riverside, Orange First Responders Heading To Site Of Florida Condo Collapse
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — First responders from Riverside and Orange counties are joining other units from California to help with emergency operations at the site of the condominium tower collapse in Surfside, Florida.
Task Force 6, comprised of crews from the Riverside Fire Department and other Riverside County agencies, has been activated as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency response to the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers condo complex in the Surfside community.
As of late Friday afternoon, there have been 22 confirmed fatalities with more than 100 residents still missing, according to Miami-Dade officials.
Search teams from throughout the country have been sent to the scene where the investigation into what caused the building to collapse is still under investigation.
Task Force 6 is a federally designated urban search and rescue unit that has been activated multiple times to assist with recovery operations across the nation, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.
The unit was also involved in the search-and-rescue efforts after a 2014 mudslide in Snohomish County, Washington. In 2017, the task force was dispatched to both Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico to provide assistance to first responders following hurricanes Harvey and Maria, respectively.
The Riverside Fire Department is the principle agency within the task force, but the unit also includes personnel from the Corona, Hemet, Murrieta and Riverside County fire departments.
The Orange County contingent is comprised of five Incident Support Team Members from the Orange County Fire Department as well as crews from San Diego, Oakland and Sacramento. Two structural specialists from OCFA and two from the Sacramento City Fire Department will also be deployed.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
