Trenton. New Jersey team to assist in Florida condo collapse search

New Jersey’s urban search and rescue team has been deployed to Florida to help with rescue and recovery efforts one week after a 12-story beachfront condominium building came crashing down.

New Jersey Task Force 1 sent 70 members who specialize in 21 technically skilled positions and 10 ground support personnel. It is the unit’s eighth deployment under FEMA since 2016.

The team’s past experience with structural collapses includes the Twin Towers in the Sept. 11 attacks, the Tropicana Hotel ‘s parking garage and the Hackensack parking garage.

Crews in Surfside, Florida, were entering their second week of searching for survivors in the rubble left when Champlain Towers South pancaked.

Florida Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis has said there is a need for mental health resources to treat rescue workers for post-traumatic stress disorder.

- Associated Press