The Ohio Task Force (OH-TF-1) is one of two new urban search and rescue (US&R) teams that, in the Spring of 1997, were added to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arsenal of 27 US&R teams. The 28 teams cover the entire United States and can be deployed nation-wide if requested by FEMA (map of other teams). Two of the teams (OH-TF-1, is not one of them) have the ability to be deployed world-wide.

OH-TF-1 is currently made up of members from the Miami Valley, Ohio area fire and rescue services, but is expanding membership to include other areas of the State as well. The official sponsoring agency for OH-TF-1 is the Miami Valley Fire/EMS Alliance.

Services provided by a USAR Task Force include:

• Structural Collapse Rescue
• Trench Collapse Rescue
• Medical Team Support
• K-9 Search and Rescue

Units within our team are:

• Management Staff
• Management Committees
• Technical Team
• Rescue Team
• Search Team
• Medical Team
• Public Information Team