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New Port Richey, Spring Hill Rescue Teams Enter Pact

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: September 24, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's good to know who you can count on when times get tough.

The New Port Richey Fire Department has entered into an agreement with Spring Hill Fire Rescue to team up in the worst of times.

The City Council last week gave its formal nod to a memorandum of understanding between the two departments. This agreement is specifically in regard to the cities' respective Light Technical Rescue Team units.

These specialized teams were established as part of the State Emergency Response Plan. The teams go through training to perform the tricky and hazardous task of getting people out of collapsed buildings and other confined areas in the aftermath of hurricanes and other disasters.

"We need to have people with the same specialized training," Fire Chief Daniel Azzariti said in presenting the memorandum of understanding to council.

The Spring Hill Light Technical Rescue team is the New Port Richey team's nearest neighbor. The teams, whose job Azzariti described as "urban search and rescue," are available for emergencies in either's service area and in neighboring communities.

Depending on the size and scope of an emergency, Azzariti said, they could be called to situations throughout Florida or neighboring states.

This agreement has nothing to do with other mutual aid agreements, Azzariti stressed. In case of a fire or other emergencies, Pasco County Fire Rescue and other emergency services agencies would still come to New Port Richey's assistance and vice versa, he said.

For Light Technical Rescue, there are certain protocols, Azzariti explained.

For example, when a team is asked to respond, it must do so with a minimum of six personnel.

"We're one of the smallest departments in the state to have such a unit," Azzariti said. Depending on the type of emergency situation, having six trained people to send on a search and rescue at a given time may not always be easy, he noted.

Also, in large or prolonged situations, there's the matter of relieving the initial response team.

This agreement helps assure both departments have sufficient personnel to get the job done.

Light Technical Rescue teams want to get on a scene within an hour because statistical data suggest that the first hour after a building collapse is when most victims are pulled out alive.

Even though New Port Richey and the unincorporated area of southwestern Hernando County aren't next door to one another, they are close enough to be able to call on one another and mobilize in that one-hour timeframe.

The agreement gives the departments the freedom to share equipment and to train together.

Klint Lowry can be reached at 727-815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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