Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 1

This article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

VA-TF1 members conduct a rescue operation after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

VA TF1 personnel on board a US Air Force C-17 transport en route to Nepal in 2015

Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 1 or VA-TF1 is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Fairfax County, Virginia. VA-TF1 is sponsored by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.^[1]

Established in 1986 as a domestic and international disaster response resource, sponsored by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Virginia Task Force 1 is rostered by approximately 200 specially trained career and volunteer fire and rescue personnel, with expertise in the rescue of victims from collapsed structures, following a natural disaster or terrorist attack.^[2]

The team is composed of emergency managers and planners, physicians and paramedics and includes specialists in the fields of structural engineering, heavy rigging, collapse rescue, logistics, hazardous materials, communications, canine and technical search.

Virginia Task Force 1 has partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency for domestic response and the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to provide international response to natural and man-made disasters. As a part of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, the task force maintains constant operational readiness as a local resource for residents of Fairfax County and surrounding jurisdictions.

Deployment[]

^[3]

• October 2018 Hurricane Michael- Florida^[4]
• September 2018 Hurricane Florence - North Carolina^[5][6]
• September 2017 Hurricane Maria - Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands
• September 2017 Hurricane Irma - Florida, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands
• August 2017 Hurricane Harvey - Texas
• October 2016 Hurricane Matthew
• April 2015 earthquake in Nepal^[7]
• October 2012 Hurricane Sandy
• August 2011 Hurricane Irene
• March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami^[8]
• January 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti earthquake^[9]
• November 2008 Panama Flooding
• September 2008 Hurricane Hanna: Haiti
• May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, China
• May 2008 Cyclone Nargis, Burma
• February 2008 Bolivian floods
• September 2007 Hurricane Felix, Honduras
• August 2007 Peru earthquake^[10]
• August 2006: Hurricane Ernesto
• October 2005 South Asia/Pakistan earthquake
• January 2005 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
• February 2004 Morocco earthquake in Al Hoceima
• December 2003 Iran earthquake in Bam
• October 2002 Danube River Flooding, Czech Republic
• World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, New York City and Washington, D.C. – September 11, 2001^[11]
• March 2000 Mozambique flood in Maputo
• October 1999 Düzce earthquake in Turkey
• September 1999 Touliu earthquake, Taiwan
• July 1998 US Embassy terrorist bombings, Nairobi Kenya
• July 1998 Balkan Food Drop in Pescara, Italy
• Oklahoma City bombing, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – April 19, 1995^[11]
• July 1990 Luzon earthquake, Philippines
• December 1988 Armenia earthquake, USSR

References[]

External links[]

• Virginia Task Force 1