By Ryan Harris
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
DALTON, Ga. — Firefighters began training here Wednesday for a new regional search and rescue team that would let 21 counties in North Georgia pool their resources.
"It's much easier for everyone to be on the same sheet of music," Dalton firefighter Keith Dempsey said.
About 20 firefighters who eventually will work as instructors began training Wednesday with a rope rescue session at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center here.
They will take a final test next week and then begin teaching a team of 130 firefighters.
The team is the product of a $1.5 million Homeland Security grant, officials said.
The grant paid for a specialized firetruck that will be housed in Calhoun, Ga. It will haul equipment for rescue scenarios including those in confined spaces, collapsed buildings, trenches, wilderness and vehicle entrapments, Mr. Dempsey said.
He said this "is the state's attempt to place a large cache of resources and trained personnel" at several sites to cover the state.
"There is not a high frequency of incidents, but when you do have a specialized incident you have to have the equipment to mitigate that emergency," Mr. Dempsey said.
Emergency officials in Walker and Catoosa counties said they hope to participate in the regional program, but they haven't yet committed any manpower to the project.
Currently, fire departments in Northwest Georgia rely primarily on individual rescue squads.
Cartersville firefighter Ray King said major emergencies like a building collapse can overwhelm a small department.
"It would have to be a huge department to handle it, and then they have to give up their (fire) service," Mr. King said. "One emergency usually leads to another emergency."
There are regional rescue squads already based in Atlanta, Macon and Savannah. Northwest Georgia and Valdosta have the newest teams, and the last team will form this year in Athens, Ga., said state Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Lisa Janak.
The goal is a maximum two-hour response time to an emergency anywhere in the state, she said.
The search and rescue teams have been called to incidents such as last year's tornado in Americus and this month's sugar refinery explosion and fire in Savannah, Ms. Janak said.
Copyright 2008 Chattanooga Publishing Company
