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FEMA Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 (CA-TF8)

California Task Force 8 members preparing for deployment

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is the sponsoring agency for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 (CA-TF8).

The National Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Response System, established under FEMA authority in 1989, is a framework for organizing federal, state and local partner emergency response teams as integrated federal disaster response task forces. There are 28 US&R task forces around the nation which can be deployed by FEMA to a disaster area to provide assistance during or after a large scale natural or man-made disaster. They may also be pre-positioned when a major disaster threatens a community.

FEMA task forces are rapid deployment teams each consisting of 70 technical rescue and incident management specialists. The task forces are equipped and ready to deploy within six hours in various response models. Each task force receives the same training so that they can work together seamlessly wherever they are sent. Team members specialize in search, rescue, medicine, hazardous materials, logistics and planning. A task force also includes technical specialists such as physicians, structural engineers and canine search teams.

CA-TF8 team members were dispatched to the Northridge earthquake in 1994, the 1995 Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing and the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, 2001. The team also responded to several hurricane disaster areas, including Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana in 2005 and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Texas and Florida in 2017.

Members of the team come from a large variety of agencies in San Diego County:

  • Carlsbad Fire Department
  • County of San Diego Public Works
  • Chula Vista Fire Department
  • Coronado Fire Department
  • Del Mar Fire Department
  • Escondido Fire Department
  • Heartland Fire & Rescue
  • Lakeside Fire Protection District
  • Miramar Fire Department
  • Oceanside Fire Department
  • Poway Fire Department
  • Rancho Santa Fe Fire
  • San Marcos Fire Department
  • Santee Fire Department
  • Solana Beach Fire Department
  • Vista Fire Department

CA-TF8 is sponsored by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).