HOUSTON — Some firefighters from Colorado Springs who went to Houston to help with Hurricane Harvey recovery are heading to Houston to help prepare for Hurricane Irma.
The firefighters are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Colorado Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue team.
On Wednesday night, the Colorado Springs Fire Department received word the task force is being sent to a staging location in Alabama in preparation for Hurricane Irma.
“Colorado Springs firefighters are in good health and their spirits are high,” the fire department said Thursday.
The 80 members of the Type I team are traveling in a 13-vehicle convoy. The convoy consists of semitractor trailers packed with equipment and supplies, pickup trucks towing rescue boats, and cargo vans carrying firefighters.
The convoy will stop in Russellville, Arkansas, on Thursday night for “some much needed rest,” officials said.
Forty more firefighters and seven more vehicles will join the convoy when it reaches Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. The 20-vehicle convoy will then deploy into Florida.