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Rescue mission to Haiti canceled at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

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An Air Force C-17 transport plane is unloaded Saturday Jan. 16 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after being loaded with tons of equipment to take to Haiti. Federal officials said there was a lack of infrastructure in Haiti to support the mission.

Lisa Powell/Lisa Powell An Air Force C-17 transport plane is unloaded Saturday Jan. 16 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after being loaded with tons of equipment to take to Haiti. Federal officials said there was a lack of infrastructure in Haiti to support the mission.

By Laura A. Bischoff, Staff Writer Updated 8:02 PM Saturday, January 16, 2010

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Eighty search-and-rescue experts and their high-tech listening gear, camera probes and sniffer dogs were packed and ready to go to earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Saturday, Jan. 16, when their mission was called off at the last minute.

The federal office of foreign disaster assistance told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the Ohio Task Force One’s mission was canceled, said Task Force One spokesman Scott Hall.

“They’ve advised that there are no resources needed from the urban search and rescue system today in Haiti. The reason for that is that there is little infrastructure there and there is a lack of resources etcetera in order to support our teams on the ground,” Hall said.

Relief agencies from around the world continue to have difficulty getting into Port-au-Prince’s one-runway airport, he added.

The team, which is made up of firefighters, paramedics, structural engineers and others from Ohio and Kentucky, will remain on stand-by through Sunday.

“Our team is remaining positive, though disappointed, about not being in the air already and going to help the people that they’ve trained for the last 20 years or so to do this job,” Hall said.

Ohio Task Force One has 60 tons of equipment designed to support the 80-member team for up to two weeks. The gear included generators, ropes, cameras, listening equipment, hand tools, tents, fuel, food and water.

Most of it had been loaded on two C-17 cargo planes that landed mid-day Saturday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. But it was quickly unloaded and the planes reassigned to other missions a couple of hours later.

Hall said it’s common for missions to change on short notice.

At least four other urban search and rescue teams with 330 members from across the nation are already in Haiti, digging through rubble, according to the USAID.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday collapsed buildings, killed tens of thousands of people and left untold numbers of others injured, damaged roads and the seaport at the capital of Port-au-Prince, complicating efforts to deliver and distribute emergency supplies and services.

Usually, Ohio Task Force One drives to disaster sites, including New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Haiti would be its first foreign deployment.

Ohio Task Force One member and Dayton Fire Capt. Mike Kennedy, who was interviewed before the mission was cancelled, said “New York City was one thing. But we didn’t have bodies laying around. This is going to be completely different.”

The team had been waiting since Thursday to fly to Haiti. Hall said local governments that have been paying the team members overtime while they waited will eventually be reimbursed for the pay.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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