L.A. County Fire Rescuers Heading To Chile

L.A. County Fire rescuers in Haiti.

Members of the Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue task forces have to be some of the busiest first responders in the world. Last month they were in Haiti pulling people from the rubble of a devastating earthquake there. On Monday a task force prepared to deploy to Chile to help rescue people buried by that nation's near-record 8.8 earthquake.

Members of one of two L.A. County urban search and rescue task forces were staging today at Pacoima, awaiting further orders about exactly where they would deploy. California Task Force 2, the same team that went to Haiti, is headed to Chile at the behest of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds the L.A. County task forces -- paying for training and equipment -- so that they can be deployed in national emergencies and to international disasters in which the United States wants to lend a hand.

The task force rescued at least nine people in Haiti.