Remembering the Oklahoma City Bombing

Abstract

I am a certified fire fighter and paramedic in the state of Florida. Upon separation from active service in the United States Marine Corps in 1986, I transferred into the Marine Corps Reserve. My involvement with fire rescue began in 1988. The fire service afforded me a flexible schedule that allowed me to continue my affiliation and career in the Ma rine Corps. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, Miami, Dade County, Florida, is a professional fire rescue service. I was a volunteer member of Florida Task Force-1 (fltf-1) and the canine search-and-rescue (k-9 sar) unit. Immediately following the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Okla homa City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (fema) alerted a number of its urban search-and-rescue teams around the country. One of those teams, fltf-1, made up of members of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, was notified and placed on alert to respond. As a member of fltf-1, I immediately pre pared for possible deployment to Oklahoma City, fema activated fltf-1 and deployed us to Oklahoma City in support of its operations. A U.S. Air Force C-141 military transport aircraft brought the task force directly to Oklahoma City on April 22. The sar k-9s were secured in kennels that were secured to the deck of the aircraft. None of the k-9s had dif