Urban Search and Rescue Pennsylvania Task Force 1

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Urban Search and Rescue Pennsylvania Task Force or PA-TF1 is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is sponsored by the Commonwealth.^[1]

1 Participating Agencies
2 Capabilities
3 Deployments
4 List of Personal Equipment
5 Pennsylvania Task Force 2
6 References

[edit] Participating Agencies

Pennsylvania Task Force One, PA-TF-1, serves as one of FEMA’s 28 Urban Search and Rescue Teams. The Pennsylvania based Urban Search and Rescue Team is led by Chief Dan Hartman (Officer in Command) of the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire [1]. The team is comprised primarily of personnel from the Harrisburg, PA Bureau of Fire, the Philadelphia Fire Department and the Baltimore County Fire Department. Other participants and participating agencies of the 62 member team include the following agencies [1]:

Westmoreland County Disaster Team PA Department of Environmental Protection Philadelphia Housing Authority Special Medical Response Team (SMRT) Pennsylvania State Fire Academy PA Emergency Management Agency Wilkes-Barre Fire Department University of Pennsylvania S.T.R.I.K.E. K-9 response team ABS Consulting Pinnacle Health Systems Harrisburg Area Community College Carlisle Fire Department Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute Mt. Lebanon Fire Department Hershey Medical Center – Life Lion Central Pocono Ambulance Association Temple University Hospital Anne Arundel County, Maryland City of Johnstown Fire Department Municipality of Kingston Premier Research Worldwide Michael Reedy Excavating Smith-Barney Mercy Haverford Hospital Lancaster EMS Association PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Dauphin County Hazardous Materials Response Team Defense Depot Susquehanna Fire Department Defense Distribution Center Pennsylvania Air National Guard 193rd Special Operations Wing Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Ship Systems Engineering Station

[edit] Capabilities

Serving as the Pennsylvania State Capital, the City of Harrisburg is centrally located in Pennsylvania and is easily accessible to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre areas via Interstates 76, 80 and 81. The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire provides its Rescue 1 unit as a Special Hazards Advanced Rescue Personnel (SHARP) response in advance of the PA-TF-1. This advance search and rescue team responds to high angle rescues, trench rescues, confined space rescues, building collapses, water rescues and other technical rescues [2]. This Harrisburg Bureau of Fire rescue team was formed in 1991 [2].

[edit] Deployments

PA-TF-1 has been deployed to numerous incidents of national significance, including the 2001 World Trade Center Attacks and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina event.

[edit] List of Personal Equipment

The suggested list of personal equipment for PA Task Force 1 personnel includes all of the following [3]:

(2) Two Navy Blue BDU Tops (3) Three Navy Blue BDU Pants. (4) Four Gray T-shirts with PA-TF 1

Personal Protective Gear must meet PA Task Force 1 requirements. (1) One Helmet with Chin strap (1) Safety Glasses with side protection or Safety Goggles (2) Two sets Hearing protection (1) One pair Leather Work Gloves (1) One pair Protective Boots with Steel Toe and Shank (2) Quarts of Water (in canteens w/belt)

Additional items (6) Pair underwear (6) Pair socks (cotton) (2) Shorts (1) Thongs or sandals (2) Sets of MRE's or equivalent (1) Collapsible cup (1) Sunglasses (1) Non-work shoes (1) PT clothing (1) Pen and notepad (1) Toiletry Kit, incl.:, Soap, Toothpaste, Razor & extra blades, Deodorant, Toilet paper (1) Chap Stick (1) Sunscreen (1) Bug dope (1) Alarm clock (1) Personal first aid kit (1) Weeks supply of personal prescription medications. (1) Sleeping bag (1) Pillow (2) Sheets (3) Bandannas (1) Uniform Jumpsuit (1) Rain gear (1) Ball Cap (1) Helmet light w/ Extra bulb batteries (1) Flash light w/ Extra bulb & batteries (1) Credit card (1) Cash (1) FOG manual (1) Wallet (1) Camera w/ film (1) Jackknife (1) Sweatshirt/ Fleece Jacket (1) Sock liner (1) Coolmax underwear (1) Spare boots (gortex lined) (1) gortex socks (1) wide brim hat (1) mosquito netting (1) bug headnet

[edit] Pennsylvania Task Force 2

In 2002, then Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker proposed the formation of Pennsylvania Task Force Two, PA-TF-2. This search and rescue team was envisioned to perform the same search and rescue services as PA-TF-1, but only be deployable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This state Urban Search and Rescue Team is still in the formative stage [3].