COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Several current and former members of the Columbus Division of Fire are currently in Florida with Ohio Task Force 1 (OH-TF1), ready to help once Hurricane Milton hits.
“It’s truly unbelievable the power of mother nature unless you see it first hand,” said Doug Hotchkiss, a Columbus fire lieutenant and heavy rigging specialist with the task force, an urban search and rescue team.
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“We’re here for natural disasters and we’ll help out any way we can, we train on all kinds of different situations, so we’re proud to be here, we’re proud to represent the state of Ohio,” Hotchkiss said.
Given the expected storm surge with Hurricane Milton, Hotchkiss said his main role will likely be with water rescues. The task force first got to Florida two weeks ago for Hurricane Helene, helping in the area just north of Tampa Bay, then moving on to western North Carolina.
“We worked in numerous areas around North Carolina and it’s very hard to just verbally explain the amount of damage and flooding,” Hotchkiss said.