Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and Oregon
Department of Forestry (ODF) IMT’s returned home from Florida yesterday, Oct. 27 after a 14-day assignment. Their mission was in Bay County in the
Florida Panhandle, where they integrated with IMTs from Mississippi and
Florida. The unified IMT provided leadership to the county for emergency
management response by deploying resources for search and rescue. The team then
shifted into recovery mode by helping residents obtain transitional housing and
getting kids back into schools.
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| OSFM and ODF team in Bay County, Florida supporting the cleanup efforts for Hurricane Michael. |
Incident Commander Ted Kunze said, “OSFM and ODF working in unified command
along with the IMTs from other states optimized our resources and created a
robust IMT, which allowed us to get started quickly and efficiently on our
search and rescue mission. I feel we all represented Oregon very well.”
The team spent time in Mexico Beach, where the eye made landfall. Tens of thousands of tarps have been distributed in
Bay County. They were in total awe of the spirit of the people here and the
outpouring of volunteers throughout the county from all over the country. A funeral was held Wednesday for the Bay County firefighter killed last week. The
Oregon IMT is donating $1,000 to the family.
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| In Mexico Beach, Florida, tarps distributed cover roofs. |
Although the recovery efforts posed some challenges, the team describes their mission as very inspiring and humbling. They are very proud of the work done by both of our teams in helping Floridians put the pieces back together again.