Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 1
Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 1 or CA-TF1 is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Los Angeles, California and sponsored by the Los Angeles Fire Department.[1]
Task Force 1 was established on April 4, 1993, when the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles City Council authorized the Fire Department to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) and FEMA to sponsor a USAR Task Force.[2]
CA-TF1 is one of six Task Forces that is Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) certified having received extensive training in responding to incidents involving chemical, biological or radiological agents.[2]
When deploying, CA-TF1 can move its equipment in one of two ways. The first is to load the cache onto a military pallet for shipment via air. The second is over land via two 40-foot (12 m) semi-trailer trucks and a 24-foot (7 m) crewcab box van owned by the Task Force.[2]
Deployments
- September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - Deployed to World Trade Center, New York City, New York[3] for nine days of search around the South Tower debris pile.[2]
- 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, Utah - Deployed to Utah on standby in the event of a disaster or attack.[2]
- Hurricane Katrina - Deployed to a Texas staging area.[4]
