Guymon Swift Water Team Returns Home From Hurricane Milton

The Guymon Fire Department Swiftwater Team that deployed ahead of Hurricane Milton returned home Tuesday afternoon. “They have been deployed for 9-days in Florida assisting with water rescue efforts and assessment of damage caused by this Hurricane”, said Guymon Fire Chief Grant Wadley.
The Guymon Team left Guymon midnight on October 6th and joined 2 other Oklahoma Fire Departments to form one Type I team. They arrived in Live Oak, Florida on Tuesday morning in Staging, which was the location of many more swift water teams from across the country. When Hurricane Milton struck the area of Sarasota, the Oklahoma teams were some of the first ones in to start search and rescue operations in certain areas around Bradenton, FL located just north of Sarasota. Searching for those needing help in a large mobile home park. Once their task there was done, they were re-directed towards Orlando, FL where expected rescues were going to take place and water levels also expected to rise.
Before arriving to Orlando, they were diverted again to Bartow, FL to a staging area at the Bartow Airport. The mission of the team at this location was to monitor a river nearby that was expected to crest over the banks in the next 48 hours. The next morning, they launched the boats alongside Florida Fish & Wildlife Division and patrolled the river looking for immediate hazards and anyone needing assistance. Once that was completed, they were able to monitor water conditions on Banana Lake near Lakeland, FL. After no further action was needed in this location, the team was directed back towards Tampa Bay on Saturday. They arrived at the Florida State Fairgrounds where other teams had also arrived at this staging area. Sunday the team scouted and looked for those needing assistance in Lutz, FL which is 27 miles north of Tampa. No conditions of rescue were found and the team ended back at Florida State Fairgrounds.
Local planning and evacuations played a big part in the low number of water rescues. The area did not receive as severe damage and flooding as expected. Local Fire/Rescue departments with Swiftwater teams did assist and rescue some, but the total of the populations needing assistance was very low. This speaks of great work and planning of Florida Rescue Teams, Florida’s preparation, and Florida’s Governor and his many emergency divisions work in this Hurricane.
Guymon Swiftwater team joined many other Teams while working there such as Arkansas Task Force I, Kentucky Task Force I, Kansas Task Force I, and other Oklahoma teams that were originally deployed to other parts of Florida. In the end, Oklahoma Teams came home safe, accomplished the mission of helping others in a dangerous natural disaster, and impacted lives of people we may never see again.
“I am proud of our Swiftwater Team and Guymon to be able to have the capabilities and experience to perform these type service that are not very common in these region”, said Chief Wadley.