West Pierce Fire & Rescue had several personnel deployed to the Oso incident. Emergency Management Coordinator, Christine Badger and Training Captain Gary McVay were deployed as part of the Incident Management Team. Both were deployed for over a week and assisted with the coordination efforts at the command post.
Captain Pat Lillie and Firefighters Jason Yantzer and Jerry Hamilton were deployed as members of the WATF-1 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. These members assisted in the search and recovery efforts for the victims of the slide. These men were all deployed for at least two weeks with one being on site for the past three weeks.
We want to thank all of these personnel for making the sacrifice to be away from their families during their deployments. We also want to welcome them all home.