Special Operations Teams
The firefighters and paramedics in our organization are members of teams such as our Technical Rescue Team, Swiftwater Rescue Team, Search and Rescue Team, Strike Team 5, BikeStreet Team and IST.
Technical Rescue Team
Our technical rescue team is trained to accept any challenge, to rescue individuals caught in a building collapse, confined space, trench collapse, or any location where access to the patient is restricted. We have extensive training in rope, high angle, confined space, and trench rescue. Our technical rescue protocols are based on the programs taught to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces.
The equipment kept on hand at the district is modeled after pallet one of a FEMA task force equipment cache. This equipment enables us to mitigate an incident until the arrival of more assistance. Several members of the Eureka Fire Protection District Technical Rescue Team are also members of Strike Team 5 & Missouri Task Force One, a FEMA sponsored urban search and rescue team, which is based with Boone County Fire District.
Rescue unit 2496 is a 1999 Vintage Outlaw gooseneck trailer. This specialized apparatus carries all the equipment necessary for our Technical Rescue Team to operate. This unit responds for trench rescue, confined space rescue, high angle rescue, structural collapse rescue, and anything outside of the normal engine company's capabilities.
The Eureka Fire Protection District Technical Rescue Team can be contacted Eureka Fire House 1 at 636-938-5505.
Swiftwater Rescue
Several members of our department are rescuers and instructors for swiftwater rescue techniques. This includes rescue of victims from moving water such as rivers and from still waters such as lakes or ponds. The Eureka Fire Protection District has approximately 37 miles of rivers and inland waterways to protect. Our swiftwater rescue technicians use ropes, boats, and flotation equipment to reach victims of flooding incidents. Marine Unit 2429, is a flatbottom jet-powered boat ideal for use in the shallow but swift waterways of the Eureka Fire Protection District.
Missouri Task Force 1: Urban Search & Rescue
Urban Search and Rescue or USAR, is a team of 186 members that is qualified and equipped to respond to search and rescue victims that are trapped or entombed in collapsed reinforced concrete and steel structures. A USAR Task Force responds as a 62 member team that is a highly sophisticated, personnel intensive, equipment intensive, and training intensive program. Missouri Task Force One {MO-TF1} is the only team in the state of Missouri. MO-TF1 is based out of the Boone County Fire Protection in Colombia, MO. The task force operates as a state disaster resource under the State Emergency Management Agency. In addition the task force is also a resource for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, available for response throughout the United States and it's territories.
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When the task force is deployed to a disaster by SEMA or FEMA we respond with a strictly structured set of Federal organizational guidelines. The task force responds with 62 members, two each in all positions that work around the clock for up to ten days, 31 members working 12 hour shift's. Those members are divided into five areas, either Administrative {Task Force Leader, Safety, or Planning}, Search Team {Canine and Technical Search}, Rescue Team { Rescue Specialists}, Medical Team {Physicians, Nurses, and Paramedics}, or Technical Team {Structural Engineers, Heavy Riggers, Hazardous Materials Specialists, Technical Information, Logisticians and communications}. When the task force is deployed it is completely self-sufficient, so when deployed, no strain is placed on the affected community. Over 16,400 pieces of low and high tech equipment are part of the disaster response. Everything from search cameras and borescopes to locate trapped victims to portable toilets, toothpaste and sleeping bags are sent with the task force.
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Missouri Task Force One went on their first deployment on the morning of September 11th, 2001. They were deployed to the World Trade Center in New York City. For additional information, visit FEMA's USAR Page, the USAR page for the events of September 11th, or MO-TF1's page at Boone County Fire District.
Incident Support Team
Several members of the Eureka Fire District are also members of the "Region C" Incident Support Team (IST). This team has approximately 80 members from Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement and Emergency Management from the several counties in the S. Louis Region.
The team is trained to respond and assist Missouri Communities requesting assistance in managing large scale Incidents and Events. Team members have specialized training Incident Command, Operations, Planning, Logistics, Finance & Administration, and many other assignments. The Incident Support Team can deploy very quickly and is flexible enough to set up operations in a fixed facility or bring its own equipment including Mobile Command Post, Support equipment such as Western Shelters and large generators.
