Nevada Task Force-1 moving to Florida to prepare for Hurricane Milton

The 45-member Nevada Task Force-1 sent to assist in Hurricane Helene recovery is moving Monday afternoon to the Jacksonville, Florida, area in advance of Hurricane Milton.

“The team will arrive this evening (Monday) and report to an Incident Management Team already on the ground,” Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels said in an email. “The original date of return for the team was going to be October 11, but this will extend the team out to an additional 14 days.

Milton has strengthened to a Category 5 storm and is expected to arrive near the Tampa area late Wednesday, according to the latest National Weather Service forecasts. It is churning east across the Gulf of Mexico and could still be a Category 4 storm, officials said.

The Tampa Bay area of 3.3 million people has not been hit by a hurricane in more than a century.

The Nevada team had been working in Jonesborough in far eastern Tennessee to assist in recovery after Helene that hit in late September.

“They have been doing boat operations and working with K-9 teams in a search/rescue capacity,” Samuels wrote. “NV-TF1 is also responsible for the decontamination of all personnel and vehicles that go out to assist in the search efforts in that region.”

The unit left Las Vegas Sept. 27 just hours after the hurricane came ashore in the Big Bend area of Florida and delivered widespread devastation to at least six southeast states as the most powerful hurricane since Katrina struck New Orleans nearly two decades ago.

“They (task force members) are all grateful for the opportunity to serve those in need,” Samuels said. “And of course the people of Jonesborough are showing their thanks by making sure our guys get hot meals each night. They have at least one more day of work in the Jonesborough area, and then we will see where they go from there.”

The task force is one of 28 FEMA Teams, activated with personnel from the Clark County Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire Department, North Las Vegas Fire Department, Boulder City Fire Department, Henderson Fire Department and private civilians.

Typically, the recovery missions are for 14 days, but can be shorter or longer depending upon the need of the communities and the scope of the incident. The capabilities of this team consist of search, recovery, rescue, heavy rigging, water operations, rescue K-9s, intelligence gathering and whatever else the community needs.

Helene came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm and carved a path of destruction as it moved northward, killing more than 220 people in six states, including at least 72 in Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, North Carolina. Jonesborough is about 90 miles north of Asheville.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.