The swift water emergency response vehicles were fully stocked with supplies and equipment prior to departure.
Photo by Ventura County Fire Department

The Ventura County Fire Department deployed 14 members of its swift water rescue team just before midnight on Sunday to assist people affected by Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana.

The swift water team assembled at County Fire Station 54 in Camarillo to prepare for the 27-hour drive to Baton Rouge. They will deployed for a minimum of 14 days and could be gone for an additional week if conditions warrant.
Fire Chief Bob Roper couldn’t say exactly where the team would be working because their assignment would be determined by where the hurricane made landfall and the damage it caused.

“We realized after Hurricane Katrina that there was no national pact in place for one state to request help from another,” said Roper. “That’s changed now and this deployment is the result of a request directly from the governor of Louisiana to the governor of California.”

The Ventura County team was expected to rendezvous in Blythe with teams from the cities of Long Beach, Sacramento and the Sacramento Metro fire departments at about 6 a.m. on Monday morning and then continue to Louisiana.
Battalion Chief Bob Ameche is leading the team and he warned them that they would face danger from more than just floodwaters. Alligators, snakes and insects were also a concern.

“We’ll have to look out for each other,” he said. “We’re going down there as a team and we will be together as a team through thick and thin.”

The Ventura County Fire Department water rescue team is trained to respond to a variety of rescue situations. The team uses personal watercraft, specialized water rescue tools and other equipment in their life-saving missions.