Washington sends Task Force 1 to Hawaii in wake of wildfires

A team of local first responders flew out of Boeing Field Friday to provide emergency assistance as Maui recovers from this week's deadly wildfires.

“This is a mixture of rescue specialists, guys that that know how to breach and break concrete, steel, lift and move,” said William Palmer, program manager for Washington Task Force 1. “We have five canine teams, three are human remains detection teams, and two are live find teams.”

The 35-member Task Force 1 is supported by 36 participating agencies from Seattle, King, and Pierce counties, including the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Mount Rainier Emergency Physicians, Tacoma Fire, Mercer Island Fire, and more. FEMA is adding 10 more members for this deployment.

The team will travel in a self-contained unit and have the flexibility to perform a variety of tasks. Palmer said they usually are activated for a couple weeks at a time, but could be in Hawaii longer if needed.

"We're flexible enough to be like a Swiss army knife, we got seven or eight blades, we can do a few few different things," Palmer said.

When the task force was formed in 1991, it was the first of its kind in the United States, authorized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It previously served at disasters such as the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and the Oso landslide. The team was last deployed to Oregon in 2020 to help battle wildfires. It also went to Hawaii in 2018 to help after Hurricane Lane hit the islands.

“What we consider like our finest hour usually happens when somebody else is having their worst hours,” Palmer said. “We have folks still on the team that went to the 9/11. We have some that go back as far as the Oklahoma City bombing.”

In a statement on the Maui wildfires, Gov. Jay Inslee said that Washington "is ready to assist in any way we can."