The Incident Support Team provides a group of highly qualified specialists to support local officials with technical assistance, management and coordination of US&R resources.

“This is a great example of how state-to-state cooperation works. California’s deployment of these specialized US&R firefighters ahead of the storm will allow for better emergency defenses,” said Cal OES Director Nancy Ward.  

The specialized team members deployed to Florida come from California US&R Task Forces 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 from Oakland, Orange County, Riverside, Sacramento and San Diego. 

This deployment builds on California’s continued efforts to aid other states during emergencies. In July, Governor Newsom deployed a similar Incident Support Team to Texas to assist in responding to Tropical Storm Beryl.   In the past two years, California has also deployed firefighters to New Mexico, Hawaii, Oregon and Montana.