Colorado Task Force One Rescues The Rescuers After Hurricane Florence
DENVER (CBS4)- Colorado Task Force One is seeing plenty of action in North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Florence.
Besides flood victims, the task force had to come to the rescue some of the rescuers trapped in a disabled military truck.
Mike Parker, the head of training for the task force, said their team got a call for a National Guard military vehicle that got swept off the road by the waters.
"There were a few National Guard members in the vehicle and a few folks they had assisted out of a community as well," said Parker.
The boats they brought from Colorado have come in handy.
Task Force One's Rod Tyus explains, "Two of our water rescue squads came up tethered up to the vehicle and rescued the people out of the vehicle."
Throughout the Carolinas, Florence has left her calling card by cutting off roads, taking out bridges and stranding vehicles. Those with Colorado Task Force One had to wait for the hurricane's most dangerous winds to pass before moving into action.
Tyus says they had to be patient, "They could not go out if wind more than 45 mph, so yesterday they could get out and do the rescues."
It was Sept. 11 when they left Colorado. An important date in this urban search and rescue team's history deploying to the World Trade Center in 2001.
But now, for the past two summers, their mission has been to help in those areas ravaged by hurricanes.
Parker says he has been in touch with the task force team based in Pembroke North Carolina, "The word we are getting they are tired but getting what they need and helping folks in need of assistance right now."
This storm has left plenty in need of help. Not just humans, but also in many cases their pets.
Task Force One consists of fire department members from all along the Front Range in Colorado.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
