CAL FIRE San Luis Obispo County has prepped strike teams to assist with any potential rescues in what the National Weather Service is predicting to be a storm that's stronger than last January 9.
"There will be a four-wheel drive strike team of fire engines that will be able to assist in rescues if needed," Director of Emergencies, Scott Jalbert said. "The sheriff's office is staffing up additional deputies to respond to emergency incidents and county fire department staffing the Urban Search and Rescue task force along with the swiftwater capabilities. They'll be staffing two heavy rescues throughout the county.”
Rescue 30 will be active in North County and Rescue 21 will be active in South County.
"They'll both be staffed with four County [Urban Search and Rescue] members and rescue swimmers throughout the weekend, starting today through Monday, and they both are being equipped with chase vehicles to assist us in accessing any locations that might be more difficult for the bigger equipment,” SLO County Fire Captain Morgan Rutledge said.
Rutledge says if you are near water, the rain increase can affect the banks you're located on, causing erosion, which leads to people ending up in the water unintentionally.
"When it comes to water crossings where any of our roads cross any of our waterways here in the county, don't cross them if there's any water. You don't know how much water is actually there," Rutledge added. "And the force of moving water can and will move vehicles with a lot less water than you would expect."
Fire teams train for events like these a minimum of twice a year, and it it's dry they'll travel to water to make sure they're ready for a future storm.
“[We] drive around, check all of our little water crossings, see what the hazards are before it's nighttime and the water's flowing so that we can anticipate our actions or plans as to how we're going to facilitate a rescue in that specific area.”
Rutledge says to stay away from the water as much as you can, as there can be possible contaminants from runoff.
