The Past, Present, and Future of South Carolina Task Force 1: Part 2

December 17, 2024

The response to the September 11th terrorist attacks and the implications of Firefighter Mobilization

The Past, Present, and Future of South Carolina Task Force 1
Part 2: The response to the September 11th terrorist attacks and the implications of Firefighter Mobilization

The seeds of a statewide response team planted after Hurricane Hugo sprouted in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The federal US&R teams paved the way and provided a solid blueprint for statewide teams. The federal government also started a counterterrorism grant program.

“September 11 really woke the nation up to the potential for a massive, coordinated terrorist event, and there’s a lot that comes with that,” South Carolina State Fire Marshal Jonathan Jones states.

“When September 11 hit, myself and quite a few other members of the team were actually at the Fire Academy teaching an urban search and rescue class,” Don Headrick recalls. “When the planes hit the towers, we’re hearing this from up front and they’re back here in the field telling us, ‘Hey, something’s going on.’”

The instructors called class for the day at lunchtime. It was the second day of an 8-day training.

“It was really odd around here because we’re in the fly path for Columbia Airport, no airplanes, no helicopters, it was really surreal the next few days because of the way they had shut down flights across the country,” he says. “Those events on September 11 kinda drove the federal government to get grants out.”

The largest terrorist attack on American soil prompted the federal government to provide grants to states to form technical rescue teams, US&R teams, and HAZMAT teams. South Carolina was fortunate to receive several million dollars from these grants to fund building the foundation of Task Force 1.

Lady’s Island/St. Helena Fire District Chief Bruce Kline was President of the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association from 2001-2002 and was an instrumental voice in advocating for federal funds for developing US&R programs. He recalls making a pitstop in Washington, D.C., on the way to New York City to deliver the money raised by the South Carolina fire service to benefit those impacted by the terrorist attacks.

“We happened to be on our way to New York City to deliver the $1 million we’d collected over 2 weekends by way of boot across South Carolina,” Chief Kline remembers. “We stopped in and met with our legislators at the federal level… and federal funding started coming to the fire service throughout the country because of little ole South Carolina and the power we had at that level of government.”

But there was another element specific to South Carolina that made federal funding a priority: geography.

“In particular, South Carolina was a strategic location,” Chief Jones states. “With the federal system, there are 28 federal teams, and on the east coast, you have two teams in Florida, and then two teams in Virginia, but nothing in between. What’s dead center between Miami and the D.C. area? South Carolina. It ended up being a high priority for funding because it was in a strategic location where there was a huge gap of response capabilities.”

“With September 11, previous knowledge, and then the ability to start getting those federal funds, it was, ‘Hey, we can do this, this is not pie in the sky, we can form a team, we can form a very respectable team,’” Headrick states.

Even with some funding, there was still a key piece missing. How would the South Carolina fire service be able to support Task Force 1 and continue to provide service at home?

“We were talking about putting together an ad-hoc asset, but at the same time, Mobilization was occurring, so it was really two different things that were going on, but I think that the original Mobilization group started looking at saying, ‘Hey, look, here’s what we can do by jelling together firefighters in the state and putting them together to create this task force.’ It ended up being the thing that really helped us the most in the long run,” Mick Mayers recalls. “The key to it [Task Force 1] was Mobilization occurred and that provided the catalyst, and the funding was the gas.”

The Firefighter Mobilization Act of 2000 was signed into law in July 2000, creating the South Carolina Firefighter Mobilization Oversight Committee. In short, Mobilization is “a state plan to assist emergency services departments in the state with resources if an event such as a fire, rescue, terrorism attack, hazardous materials event, or natural disaster occurs that cannot be handled by the local agency.”

State Fire Marshal Jonathan Jones details the importance of Mobilization in the support of Task Force 1, saying, “Mobilization solved how we create the organization on the front end that ensures not only do we provide the resources needed to where the problems are, but that we’re able to provide support while they’re deployed, that we’re able to facilitate the reimbursement and have a plan for that.”

For the first time, South Carolina had a formal statewide pool of resources with a few dedicated staff at the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

“If it wasn’t for the Firefighters’ Association and their coordinated effort along with the South Carolina Mobilization Committee support, there wouldn’t be Task Force 1,” Tom Webb expressed.

Headrick states that thanks to the counterterrorism grants, “We were very fortunate to be able to garner roughly $10M over the period of several years and we were able to purchase equipment, start the team, start soliciting for members of the team who were interested in doing that.”

The pieces of the puzzle identified in the ‘80s were coming together to form the bigger picture. An idea over a decade in the making was going to become a reality.