LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This week, Nevada Task Force 1 is back in the valley and holding debriefs after an extended deployment.
The Urban Search and Rescue Team includes local first responders from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, and Clark County fire departments.
But for much of the last month, they were in the southeast helping communities hit by disaster, responding to not just one hurricane but two.
"Whether it's needing help delivering boxes of food or water, or moving debris out of the roadway, or providing structural damage assessments so they can help rebuild and get the insurance things going, we're ready to do any of those things. In this case, it was a combination of all of those things," said team leader and Las Vegas Fire Battalion Chief Matt Gordon.
In late September, 46 members of the FEMA-funded team were initially deployed to Florida but were redirected to Tennessee in response to Hurricane Helene.
The team did go to Florida after that to reposition for Hurricane Milton with an additional 35 members joining them.
The group then went up to North Carolina still reeling from Helene before being demobilized on Oct 18.
"Initially we thought we're going to Florida. We don't really need to pack cold weather gear, we're going down to a hurricane where the weather's going to be plenty warm...but then when we get reassigned to go up to North Carolina, it's below freezing up there."
They're reconvening on Monday to discuss some of the lessons they've learned and how they can be even better prepared the next time disaster strikes a community that needs our help.
