South Florida first responders return home from hurricane response – NBC 6 South Florida

Six days after the storm, first responders from South Florida Task Force Two returned to Miami.

The group of 110 firefighters from several departments, including Miami Fire-Rescue, were deployed on the West Coast when Hurricane Milton made landfall. They headed to Sarasota and Clearwater, the hardest-hit areas, and jumped straight into the fray.

“Our need is absolutely necessary. “Our members are trained in rapid water rescue and land-based search and rescue operations. In a austere environment,” said task force leader Chris Diaz, “our members have fully served community members in the Clearwater, Sarasota and Siesta Key area helped, we generally focused on search and rescue.”

The Miami team was in the middle of the areas with the most damage. Diaz said it can get emotional trying to comfort people going through their worst days.

“They’re human beings, I mean, they’re true professionals, they’re skilled, they do great work, but no matter how human they are, they know they’re going home to someone they may have lost,” Diaz said. “It’s great to be home, but I have to say we don’t know what’s brewing on the horizon and what you see behind me is 110 members who just got back from the West Coast and we’re getting all of our resources ready. “If we activate again, we’ll be out the door within three hours.”

Hopefully that won’t happen anytime soon.

Diaz said without a doubt that lives were saved because most people in the evacuation zones heeded warnings and left. He also praised FEMA and the state of Florida for providing relief supplies so search and rescue operations could begin as soon as the storm passed.