First responders from Maryland, DC head to South Carolina ahead of Hurricane Debby

ROCKVILLE, Md. — About 50 personnel from Montgomery County, Howard County and Frederick County, as well as Washington, D.C., made their way to Charleston, South Carolina Sunday ahead of Hurricane Debby, which made landfall in Florida on Monday. Our local first responders are there to help with search and rescue efforts. 

Montgomery County Fire Chief Corey Smedley told WUSA9 he and his team are hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.

"No one wants the emergency to happen, but we're excited to go and help someone else," Smedley said. 

Crews loaded up tractor trailers and trucks with supplies needed for hurricane response. 

"Right now we have about six to eight boats that we're taking. We're taking a lot of equipment that will help search and rescue. A lot of rope, bags," Smedley said. 

For the first responders making the trip, the hardest part of the mission won't be the drive down, but what to do when they get there. 

"Sometimes we call it being stalked by a turtle," said Chase Fabrizi, deputy task force manager for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. "You kind of have to hang out, watch what happens."

Fabrizi said crews are ready to work with what they have, because being light and mobile means you can't bring everything with you.

"The challenge is coming up with ingenuity and making decisions and figuring out how to solve a problem," Fabrizi said. 

But Smedley said this is what they work for.

"It is a great honor. These men and women put a lot of time in effort into being prepared, certified and trained," Smedley said. 

Hurricane Debby reached the Big Bend coast of Florida early Monday, bringing with it the potential for record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge as it moves slowly across the northern part of the state before stalling over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina.

Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris, all of which formed in June. In the Eastern Pacific, tropical storms Carlotta, Daniel and Emilia all churned over the ocean, but they weren’t threatening land.