About The Team
South Carolina Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 (SC-TF1) is an urban search and rescue task force sponsored by the South Carolina Firefighter Mobilization Committee, which was created by the South Carolina Firefighter Mobilization Act of 2000. SC-TF1 is included in the South Carolina State Emergency Operations Plan and can be deployed in-state through the State Mutual Aid Agreement, or out of state through existing state-to-state mutual aid compacts or the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
While not part of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Response System, SC-TF1 has staffing and equipment equivalent to the FEMA/NIMS recommendations for Type 1 and Type 3 US&R task forces, including search, rescue, planning, HAZMAT/WMD, medical and logisitics sections capable of self-sustained 24-hour heavy rescue operations for over 72 hours and for deployments of up to 10 days.
SC-TF1 is a founding member of the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance (SUSAR), which is a network of North American state and commonwealth urban search and rescue resources that formed after a meeting in South Carolina in 2005.
SC-TF1 was one of the first state urban search and rescue resources to be deployed into St. Tammany Parish and St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina in September, 2005. The team is based at the South Carolina Fire Academy facility in Columbia, S.C., within close access to several interstate highways. contact us.