After spending a week in North Carolina to help with recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, Ohio Task Force 1 will now be heading to Florida to help prepare for Hurricane Milton.
Hurricane Milton is currently a Category 4 and is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.
RELATED: Hurricane Milton expected to be 'destructive' to Florida
Task Force 1 members arrived in Orlando on Monday night, and replacement members will head from Dayton to the Sunshine State.
According to Task Force 1 leader Jeff Newman, members are in good spirits but are preparing for the worst.
The members spent the last week helping those impacted by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, N.C.
Josh Compton, a battalion chief from Green, first went to Florida with team members and then moved to counties east of Asheville, which experienced some of the worst damage.
RELATED: Ohio Task Force 1 reports devastating conditions in North Carolina
Compton and his team were doing "targeted searches," which are welfare checks on residents. In many cases, he discovered mud and water reached the roof lines of homes.
"The mud and the soot and anything that floated down the river is now sitting in their front yard, so, yeah, the devastation, I truly feel for them," Compton said.
Compton has been to more than a dozen disaster areas as part of Ohio Task Force One, including other hurricanes and the 2021 condo collapse in southern Florida that killed nearly 100 people.
In the Florida condo tragedy, he was part of a team that dug through the rubble to search for victims and their belongings.
While the work can be very difficult, Compton pointed out that people are always grateful for the help, a sentiment he has experienced in North Carolina.
"No matter what deployment I've been on — the community — it's amazing how they come together. We're here to help them and they're trying to help us," Compton said.
