VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — 80 members of Virginia Task Force 2 are heading to Orlando, Florida to help assist as Tropical Storm Idalia threatens landfall.
The team was activated as a Type 1 Task Force at 2 p.m. on Monday and will depart from the Harry E. Diezel Training Center on South Birdneck Road at 10 p.m., according to a news release.
An additional 14 members will support the Incident Support Team.
The team will stage in Orlando until given further direction from FEMA. Then, they are expected to assist local agencies with requests for assistance as needed, according to the release.
Task Force Leader Craig Brown is one of 80 members from the Virginia Beach-based team that set off to Orlando Monday night. Crews packed four tractor-trailers worth of supplies.
The team is expected to help the local agencies in any way they can. Brown explained the team will likely conduct wide-area searches.
“Structural collapse, we would get on that...We do have canines. We do have four canines with us," Brown explained.
Brown has been a member of the task force for roughly 15 years. He said what keeps him going is helping others and his team members.
“The well-trained professionals that I work with every day brings me back to do this because it’s very fulfilling for me to do this with these people,” Brown said.
This is the task force's third deployment out of Virginia Beach this month.
VATF-2 USAR is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams across the country and is sponsored by the Virginia Beach Fire Department. The task force has been involved in numerous search and rescue operations following disasters.