The S.C. Helicopter Aquatics Rescue Team (HART) – who was sent to Texas last Tuesday to assist in search + rescues after Hurricane Harvey (the first time S.C. HART has deployed out of our state) – has returned home to South Carolina to assist residents and prepare for Irma.
The S.C. team, along with the North Carolina and Texas HART teams, and the US Coast Guard, flew 47 missions – four of those missions resulted in rescues.
S.C. HART was started in 2008 as a collab between the South Carolina Army National Guard and the South Carolina Urban Search & Rescue Team, which is comprised of emergency volunteer responders who have completed specialized rescue training. The HART team includes a S.C. Army National Guard helicopter + crew, three firefighters, and two rescue/swimmer specialists.
Prior to Hurricane Harvey, S.C. HART assisted with Columbia’s 1000 Year Flood in 2015, and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
