PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — An 11-man crew from Pasco and Hernando County fire rescues made the trek down to Fort Myers on Thursday on several ambulance buses to help transport hospitals and healthcare facilities impacted by Hurricane Ian.
“The Pasco County buses that are going down are fully operational,” said Shawn Whited, division chief operations for Pasco County Fire Rescue. “They have oxygen for 18 patients, they have cardiac monitoring, they have advanced life support drugs. It's basically an 18-person ambulance inside of a school bus.”
Whited is the Region IV coordinator for the state’s emergency response plan and oversees counties from Citrus to Hardee. When disaster strikes, he receives assistance requests from the state. He then disseminates those requests to chiefs in local counties who determine if they can respond to those asks.
“Once we get a mission request from the state EOC, I send out an email blast to the entire region, saying this is the mission. The mission this morning was for five ambulance buses…that the state of Florida requesting to go to Fort Myers,” he said.
Pasco and Hernando counties fulfilled that request, sending 11 men on the buses.
“Our guys are professional guys. They were ready,” Whited said. “This is the first time that our county has used those ambulance buses for a regional deployment like this.”
Other crews across the Tampa Bay area are on standby and also ready to respond if and when the state makes more requests.
“This is what everybody gets in the fire service for. They get in the fire service to help and assist,” he said. “And this is helping and assisting not only on a state level, but this is a national level…This is a national event that's going to have national impacts for years to come.”
Emerald Morrow is a reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@10tampabay.com.