Southern Colorado firefighters activated for Hurricane Ida help

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado Task Force 1 (CO-TF1) traveled to Louisiana on Saturday, August 28. Five firefighters with the Colorado Springs Fire Department are part of this deployment. According to CSFD, they have arrived safely in Louisiana and are standing by.

In total, CO-TF1 is a team of 45 members, from 14 different Colorado fire agencies. They are trained and equipped for search and rescue operations. The Task Force has been assigned to several hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Colorado floods in 2013, and 9/11's Ground Zero.

CSFD fireman Aaron McConnellogue is one of the five CSFD firefighters in Louisiana. While he acknowledges the risks, he adds that it's worth it to be able to help.

"Are there concerns at times? Yes, certainly there's concerns. But I would say not enough to stop anybody from coming and doing what we're going to be doing down here," he says.

McConnellogue is a 28-year veteran with CSFD. He's gone to other hurricane-affected areas in the past, including helping out in Houston after Hurricane Harvey as well. 

"It's not a lot of fun like people might think it is, it's pretty miserable conditions, it's hot, its incredibly humid, and we're typically wet and sticky," McConnellogue says. "But I think obviously the reward of trying to help these communities out and get an opportunity to impact people's lives is really the main reason why we're doing this.

McConnellogue has been tasked with aiding in search and rescue missions as well as damage assessments for local Louisiana officials.

"We do a lot of just general searching and damage assessments. We will go and we will physically assess every single one of those buildings and we'll provide live updates back to the command post."

5 members from #ColoradoSpringsFire are a part of this deployment. They arrived safely in Louisiana and are now standing by #HurricaneIda https://t.co/wpTJck1Q2o

— CSFD PIO (@CSFDPIO) August 29, 2021