VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — 88 members of Virginia Task Force 2 (VA-TF2) left for Orlando, Florida Tuesday to help Floridians respond to Tropical Storm Helene, the Virginia Beach Fire Department said.
The team of highly trained firefighters, EMS personnel, canine handlers, engineers and physicians are one of 28 urban search and rescue teams around the country that FEMA is able to activate when natural disasters strike. VA-TF2 is sponsored by the Virginia Beach Fire Department and is based there.
The first group of eight members left at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning while Helene was still known as Potential Tropical Cyclone #9. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, it strengthened into a tropical storm, and it is forecasted to become a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall along Florida's panhandle on Thursday.
The second group of 80 VA-TF2 members, activated at noon Tuesday, and are expected to arrive before 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, while the first group should arrive Wednesday by midnight.
VA-TF2 has frequently been activated to assist with natural disaster relief, most recently in August while assisting emergency responders in Georgia and South Carolina respond to Tropical Storm Debby. They went to Florida last year to help respond to Hurricane Idalia, a category 4 storm.