Florida Search and Rescue Teams Receive $10 Million to Help in Disasters

June 6, 2022 Updated 11:04 A.M. ET

JACKSONVILLE (FLV) – Search and rescue teams will receive a record amount of money from Florida’s budget to help communities in times of emergencies. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $10 million for Florida’s eight Urban Search and Rescue teams. As Florida is prone to disasters, DeSantis said the money will be used to update equipment, service vehicles, and train people.

“This $10 million is desperately needed to keep these teams up to speed,” Jacksonville Fire Chief Keith Powers said.

These task forces have helped in emergencies like the Surfside building collapse in 2021 and have also been deployed to help when disaster strikes other states. 

“When you have an event, particularly like a hurricane, you obviously want to get people to physical safety but then afterwards, you gotta get the power back on,” DeSantis said. “And we have some utility companies that have a lot of capacity. We have some others, maybe municipal may not have quite as many and so these teams are involved in really the whole gamut for that.”

The Governor also praised Florida for providing $1,000 bonuses for every firefighter for the second year in a row. 

DeSantis is Giving $1,000 Bonuses to First Responders

“So this is a big investment,” DeSantis said. “But I think it’s an investment that is absolutely worth it. I think it’s well deserved with the folks who have done so much to protect our communities.”