Article content
Vancouver’s heavy urban search-and-rescue team arrived in Kelowna early Sunday and has commenced an inventory of damaged and destroyed homes in the West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country areas.
West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said that Canada Task Force 1 would also be searching inside damaged homes, but at this point there are no reports of missing persons.
Article content
“The public should take great comfort with the arrival of Canada Task Force 1,” Brolund said.
“This is a national asset and comprises an incredible number of trained professionals.”
Canada Task Force 1 is one of six heavy duty search and rescue teams across Canada and comprises personnel from the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service, Vancouver Police Department, City of Vancouver and B.C. Ambulance Service as well as engineers, physicians and numerous technical experts.
Brolund said there are 50 persons in the team that “bring incredible expertise and horsepower to our operation and will do for us some very difficult things.
“Their mission is to help us stabilize the incident and to help conduct searches and rapid damage assessment.”
Once the team has finished its inventory of damaged and destroyed buildings officials at the Central Okanagan Regional District will begin notifying home owners who have been evacuated.
Support our journalism: Our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 per week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
