Local firefighters help Hurricane Helene relief efforts

GREEN BAY, WI – (WGBW & WISS) – Wisconsin’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, also known as Wisconsin Task Force 1, consisting of rescue workers from across the state including Northeast Wisconsin, is helping with Hurricane Helene relief efforts. 

“Wisconsin Task Force 1 is a state asset with specialized training and capabilities that not only helps protect Wisconsin communities, it can also respond throughout the country,” said Wisconsin Emergency Management Administrator Greg Engle in a press release. “States supporting one another during natural disasters or emergencies is a core emergency management value and helps make us a more resilient nation.”

Sixteen members of the task force’s swiftwater rescue team, including firefighters from Northeast Wisconsin, left Wisconsin this past weekend, taking specialized equipment and supplies to help with search and rescue efforts in North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene. 

Oshkosh Fire Chief Mike Stanley said the training captain from his department is part of the team.

“He’s with the Task Force 1 Team in North Carolina helping, initially, with evacuations and now search and rescue for the flooded areas,” Stanley said.

Lieutenant Shauna Walesh of the Green Bay Metro Fire Department said they have several firefighters who are a part of the task force. Two of them are deployed on this mission.

“In the world of first responders, I think that everybody comes into this job wanting to help people,” said Walesh. “And members that are involved in this team deployment, they’re going the extra step in not only helping out their communities but communities from afar too in a disaster like this hurricane.” 

Stanley said being involved in Wisconsin Task Force 1 benefits the department with training opportunities. It also allows members to help in major disasters.

“They can be part of a collaboration, that can assist not only people in Oshkosh who can benefit from that Task Force team, but communities throughout the state. And, periodically, disasters like this when they get deployed around the country,” said Stanley.

WI-TF1 is made up of first responders from fire departments across the state. The members deployed this weekend were from the Appleton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Janesville, La Crosse, Neenah/Menasha, Oshkosh, and Superior fire departments.

North Carolina requested aid through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. WI-TF1 is a resource of Wisconsin Emergency Management, a division of the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs.

Over 100 people are confirmed dead following the powerful storm that caused devastation in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. 

Find ways you can help with relief efforts by visiting https://civicmedia.us/help.