ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Monroe County’s Special Operations team is offering their assistance to help those affected by Hurricane Florence.

Special Operations teams get involved in high risk rescues assisting with ropes, water, ice and collapse by partnering with local agencies. When the storm surge comes in during a hurricane they’re able to get in high water and search building by building.  

“We find a lot of times they go in for a water job there’s also a rope component because if you have someone on a roof or stuck in the middle of a creek or river they have to utilize rope to be able to access them and remove them for the situation,” said Mark Cholach, Special Operations task force leader.

 

Monroe County is one of three counties in the state that maintains a Special Ops team that can be deployed out of state at a moment’s notice to help in disaster situations.

“What they’ve asked us to do is just status our people and our equipment to make sure if a request comes in and there is an out of state response that we can be on the road very quickly and get out there. We’ve done equipment checks and made sure our people are ready to go,” said Tim Kohlmeier, Special Operations emergency manager.