(DailyLocal.com) – Just a few weeks after returning from deployment assisting victims of Hurricane Florence, one Chester County firefighter is headed back into harm’s way as Hurricane Michael heads on shore. West Chester’s Fame Fire Company firefighter Brad Cosgrove is being deployed to the Gulf Coast as part of PA Task Force-1, an urban search and rescue outfit overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Cosgrove is a Medical Specialist with Task Force-1, based in Philadelphia. They are traveling to Alabama one of the states in the bulls-eye of the Category 4 storm. There are 28 of these FEMA teams spread throughout the continental United States trained and equipped by FEMA to handle structural collapse.
In September Cosgrove, Fame firefighter Bill Cummings and Mark Koenig of East Whiteland Fire Company were deployed to the Atlantic Coast with Task Force-1. Fame firefighter Steve McDonald, a Rescue Specialist responded with Maryland Task Force 1.
Cummings, a volunteer firefighter for 40 years, 21 at Fame said in a recent phone interview that members of the team have to be ready to deploy in a matter of hours when they get the call and the task force needs to be on the road in four to six hours. He said the Task-Force, which includes numerous members and trucks has to be self-sufficient for 72 hours. During Hurricane Florence they had 18 vehicles including tractor trailers and boats.
