IAFF Members Deployed to New Zealand
February 22, 2011 – When the Earth rumbles, the IAFF rolls. Following a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 65 people, California Task Force 2 (CA-TF2), Los Angeles County Fire Department’s USAR and Heavy Rescue Team, has been mobilized for deployment to New Zealand to help rescue and recover victims in Christchurch, the nation’s second largest city of nearly 400,000 residents.
This is the same rescue team that was dispatched to Haiti in January 2010 to help rescues efforts in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people.
The 74-member team received the request from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and are currently staging at the Department’s USAR Facility in Pacoima, California.
California Task Force 2 (CA-TF2) is a specially-trained and equipped Urban Search and Rescue Task Force consisting of Los Angeles County Fire Department fire fighters and paramedics rescue specialists, emergency room physicians, structural engineers, heavy equipment specialists, hazardous materials technicians, communications specialists and logistics specialists.
This unique technical rescue team responds with 55,000 pounds of prepackaged search and rescue tools and medical equipment to conduct around-the-clock search and rescue operations at domestic and international disasters, both natural and manmade
