United States Fire Administrator, Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, visited and took a brief tour of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s (LACoFD) Air Operations and Technical Operations Sections’ facility on Sunday, February 12, 2023.
Interim Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone and Acting Chief Deputy Jon O’Brien provided Dr. Moore-Merrell with an update on the deployment of the Department’s urban search and rescue (USAR) team, known internationally as USA-2.
USA-2 and its counterpart, USA-1, based out of Fairfax County, Virginia, were deployed by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to assist with humanitarian and lifesaving efforts in Turkey as part of the Disaster Assistance Response Team, following a series of destructive earthquakes that struck both Turkey and Syria in early February.
Later that week, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Turkey’s Consul General, Sinan Kuzum, along with his consulate office staff, also met with Chiefs Marrone and O’Brien at the Tech Ops facility in Pacoima.
After taking a tour and learning more about the Department and how it helps people at home and abroad, the Consul General and his staff thanked the LACoFD for its assistance with response operations in Turkey.
