While emergency response crews in San Diego prepare for another storm set to sweep through their home communities, a group of highly-trained, San Diego-based rescuers is 500 miles away, geared up and ready to help their California neighbors trying to avoid a storm of their own.
The squad on deployment in El Dorado County, southwest of Lake Tahoe, is made up of 12 members of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's Technical Rescue Team (TRT). They were one of several crews called to the ready by the California Office of Emergency Services as regions across the state prepare for torrential downpours and the threat of floods, mudslides and other storm-related natural disasters.
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“They specialize in swift water [rescues], and they do structural collapse and vehicle extrication as well,“ SDFD Battalion Chief and TRT manager Aide Barbat said.
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Over the phone, Barbat explained why his team will need all of their skills for the job ahead.
“So many unknowns in the swift water environment and dangers that are harder to get away from,” Barbat said.
The TRT consists of 15 men and one woman. They headed north Monday morning, paired with a small detail from Bakersfield.
By Monday night they were positioned in the Cameron Park Area of Eldorado County, just north of State Route 50, about 30 miles east of Sacramento.
“The grounds are saturated. There are trees that are falling, mud and debris that are blocking roadways into residents from burned-out areas,“ Battalion Chief Barbat said.
The saturated ground put Barbat's team at greater risk of sinkholes, fast-moving and deeper flooding, and not to mention potential contamination in the runoff. When people are warned to stay out of the water, they should remember it’s not just their lives at risk, Battalion Chief Barbat said.
Forecasters are predicting a winter mix of just about everything. Rain, snow, wind, flooding and collapses of all kinds.
Part of Barbat's team's territory includes vulnerable areas where the ground was scarred by wildfire earlier this year, which is more prone to mudslides. Five years ago in Montecito, deadly mudflows from the Santa Ynez mountains, scarred by the Thomas Fire, destroyed 65 homes, injured 25 people and killed 23 others.
“So many unknowns out there. Things can just drastically change at a moment’s notice — you may not be expecting or you may not even see coming at you. Those are the things my team is facing and having to constantly be aware of,“ Barbat explained.
His team is committed to 14 days and up to 21 if necessary, in what promises to be some dangerous challenges.
“Most of these guys enjoy that challenge but they all know it is a higher risk than anything else that we do,“ Barbat said.
SDFD's Technical Rescue Team has been around for three decades. Team members have survived each mission while other departments around the state have not been so lucky, Battalion Chief Barbat said.
