Interview with Chief John Morrison (Viena, VA Volunteer FD) and Chief Ry Kendrick (Fairfax County, VA Fire & Rescue) Both of the Chiefs are on the Virginia Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue - Planning Section.
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department sponsors an Urban Search and Rescue Program that supports both domestic and international responses. Domestically the team deploys as part of the FEMA National Urban Search & Rescue Response System as VA-TF1. Internationally the team deploys as USA-1 under the auspices of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Response (OFDA).
The team has deployed multiple times assisting with coordination and search & rescue involving large scale disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. Outside of response the team also provides assistance with response capacity building efforts benefiting citizens of the United states and the global community.
Having deployed numerous times as one of the 28 FEMA teams and 2 partner OFDA teams, Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue has become one of a very small number of highly qualified and experienced USAR responders.
Listen as the Chiefs discuss their deployments to location such as Haiti and Napal and their use with GIS and maps. The Chief's also discuss the use of GIS within their Fire Departments.
