Additional PA Responders Arrive In Hurricane Zone

In addition to a specialized team of firefighters and rescues sent earlier this week, Pennsylvania has dispatched Pennsylvania National Guard members and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission rescue technicians to the zone being impacted by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s office confirmed that more than 25 Pennsylvania National Guard members and six Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission rescue technicians were sent. Two UH-60 Black Hawks and two CH-47 Chinook helicopters left from Fort Indiantown Gap in Central Pennsylvania and Johnstown and arrived at McEntire Joint National Guard Base outside Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday.

The Pennsylvania National Guard members will work with authorities in the hurricane’s damage zone to assist with response efforts. The Pennsylvania members will work with more than 2,000 other soldiers and airmen who have been mobilized.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission rescue technicians sent down south are members of the PA Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team. They brought along one rescue truck and a trailer containing a cache of rescue support equipment, including inflatable boats.

Earlier this week, firefighters from PA Task Force 1, which includes at least one Bucks County firefighter, arrived in South Carolina to aid with any rescue operations.

“I am incredibly proud our National Guard members and the Fish and Boat Commission personnel for their readiness and willingness to assist where needed – in Pennsylvania and in other parts of the U.S. during difficult times,” Wolf said in a statement. “While we continue to help those in Pennsylvania affected by recent flooding, we also are thinking of our fellow citizens in North and South Carolina as they prepare for Hurricane Florence. I want everyone to know that Pennsylvania is with them, wishing safe passage through this storm.”

Pennsylvania officials said Pennsylvania National Guard members previously responded to hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017.