Utah crew sent to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Anxious to be put to work, Utah's Urban Search and Rescue Team finally got the word members were waiting for Sunday.

Utah Task Force One pulled up stakes in Dallas Sunday and drove to New Orleans, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency handed crews their assignments.

They were expected to relieve a search-and-rescue team that was at the end of its deployment and had been conducting secondary searches for possible victims of Hurricane Katrina. Before Rita hit, the secondary search was about 80 percent complete.

Some searches are expected to be conducted in homes that were flooded.

After waiting in Texas for three days, the team was told late Saturday to be prepared to hit the road early the next day. Initial word was they might be sent to Houston. About 9 a.m. Sunday, however, team leaders received word they were being sent to New Orleans, where they would be working for possibly seven days.

Key members remained stone-faced during the meeting when they were told their destination. But as they loaded into their vehicles, the unanimous feeling was this was the good assignment they were waiting for.

"We're pleased," said Task Force Safety Officer Royce Haakenson. "We know there's work to do there."

In fact, all 700 USAR members from across the nation staying at the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Dallas were ordered Sunday to relocate to different areas. Five teams were sent to New Orleans.

At 7:30 a.m., Utah Task Force One checked out of the hotel and went to the Dallas Fire Training Center just a few miles away. The semi-trucks filled with food, generators and other supplies, and their trailers hauling six- and four-wheel ATVs, were parked there.

Other teams such as Virginia Task Force One and Indiana Task Force One waited for deployment orders in the same lot as the Utahns.

In an hour, the word came from FEMA for Utah to move. They were on the road just five minutes later, moving in an orderly convoy all the way to the Big Easy, 500 miles away.

Logistics team manager Clint Mecham and technical information specialist Michael Kelsey quickly prepared travel routes and maps, including any potential traffic problems and weather conditions.

Once on the road, the logistics team sped ahead to scout out where the group could find gas and food. The trucks stopped for gasoline outside Alexandria, La., where there were relatively manageable lines of people also getting gas.