Oregon Sending Help To Florida For Hurricane Ian

PORTLAND, Ore. – Help is on the way from Oregon to Florida.

The Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal is sending 13 team members to help with the response to Hurricane Ian.

The team members may be in Florida for up to 14 days.

Specific work sites and duties will be determined as the team travels.

“We are thankful to the Oregon fire service and our all-hazard IMTs for answering the call to help Floridians,” Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said. “I want to extend a thank you to the team members, their families, and the Oregon fire service for supporting this mission. Our IMT members train year-round to be prepared to assist in any kind of emergency or disaster, including hurricanes. Our office stands ready to help protect lives and communities. We are keeping those in Florida impacted by this storm in our thoughts.”

ABOUT THE OSFM IMT PROGRAM

The OSFM administers three all-hazard incident management teams, primarily made of members of the Oregon structural fire service.

The OSFM all-hazard IMTs offer a wide range of emergency support services to develop plans to safely respond to and improve the lives of those impacted by the incident. The teams work to effectively coordinate with responding agencies to provide structure, support, and oversight during emergencies.  They specialize in safety, public information and community engagement, operations, plan development, logistics, and communications.

The teams primarily mobilize to wildfires that threaten lives, homes, and critical infrastructure. This summer the OSFM’s three IMTs supported five wildfire conflagrations across Oregon. Learn more about OSFM’s IMTs here.