MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Hurricane Fiona devastated Puerto Rico this weekend. It knocked out power and destroyed many homes, now help from Maryland is on the way.
MD Task Force 1 is an Urban Rescue Team out of Montgomery County. 35 members will be in Puerto Rico for a 10-14 day deployment.
It's one of 28 teams in the U.S.
Joe Keefer is the task force leader. They help with disasters both man made and natural. This is an elite group.
Engineers and building reinforcement teams are among the rescuers. They have plenty of experience.
"Oklahoma City to 9/11 at the Pentagon, to Katrina, last year we were in Louisiana," said Keefer.
This team has a wide range of expertise.
It's not just the men and women from the task force going to Puerto Rico, some of these four-legged heroes are making the trip as well.
These dogs are highly trained for just this type of mission.
"So our three search and rescue dogs are there to help clue us if someone might be trapped i.e., under concrete or in a pile of stuff we can't see them," said Keefer.
The fourth dog is a human detection dog in case they do not find any living victims. This is very hard work in tough conditions for the dogs and the others there to help, but they have had success before with finding victims well after a catastrophe.
"Days into a week or so after something has happened and when we found them," said Keefer.
