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Leaders say they are ready to deploy again even after a man was arrested in North Carolina for allegedly "hunting FEMA."
ROCKVILLE, Md. — The final group of FEMA's Maryland’s Task Force-1 Urban Search and Rescue team returned home to its Montgomery County base Monday afternoon.
In all, at least 100 rescuers split in two deployment teams spent a combined 18 days in three states saving stranded people and performing grim searches for the dead and missing in the wake of back-to-back Hurricane disasters.
As the rescuers returned home, Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service Chief Corey Smedley reacted to the arrest of a man accused of being with a militia group that allegedly told National Guardsmen that they were "hunting FEMA" in the North Carolina mountains.
"The bottom line is we're there to take care of people and save lives, and we are ready anytime FEMA calls us," Smedley said.
"We live in a difficult world, in difficult times, and the great news is that we're prepared. We're prepared for everything that comes our way," Smedley added.
Maryland TF-1 leaders pointed out that eight weeks remain in the hurricane season and they stand ready to deploy again as needed.
The first group of Maryland rescuers worked in the wake of Helene in Georgia, before being re-deployed to the flood zone in North Carolina.
Howard County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steven Hardesty led the group in North Carolina where he said much of the grim duty was focused on using dogs to mark the locations where remains of missing people might be found under debris so overwhelming it may take additional days or weeks to find them.
"People were saying 'I hope you guys don't find anybody.' And we try to explain to people. No, we we want to find those folks that are missing. We want to do our best. Even if it's someone that's not alive that gives closer to someone," Hardesty said.
In North Carolina, MD TF-1 rescuers working with Maryland National Guard helicopters rescued at least 81 stranded people including 10 kids and an additional 20 pets.
A second deployment of Maryland rescuers were in Brevard County, Florida to perform damage assessments and assist with searches, according to Jason Light of the Montgomery County Fire/Rescue Service.
"It was mostly wind damage and some flooding," Light said.
The team checked residences along 776 miles of residential roadways they were assigned to cover in the wake of Hurricane Milton, Light said.
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