Post September 11, 2001 the PA Department of Health, in coordination with FEMA, organized a statewide EMS response team to respond to major emergency’s that would exceed local, county, possibly state, and national resources. The Pennsylvania EMS strike team is made up multiple EMS agencies through out the state of Pennsylvania. The team is comprised by regions through out the state. When activated the EMS strike team is available to respond to major emergency’s such as natural disasters, acts of terrorism, man made disasters, and any incident that would overwhelm public safety agencies. The team is available to respond through out the state of Pennsylvania as well as the Nation.
Uwchlan Ambulance is 1 of 6 teams that are from Chester County-Region 11. When deployed, UAC staffs one ambulance with 2 BLS providers and 2 ALS providers. The members of the team must have specialized training. The funding for the teams is granted by FEMA.
Our team has been deployed 6 times since its formation. In 2005, Uwchlan Ambulance along with the rest of Pennsylvania’s Strike Teams, was deployed down to New Orleans,Louisiana for Hurricane KATRINA. In 2008, again our team was requested and deployed twice for Hurricane GUSTAV and Hurricane IKE, providing evacuations for hospitals, nursing homes and private residences in the southern Louisiana areas. In 2011, the team was deployed to Wernersville, PA to assist with flooding evacuations. Again in 2011 the team was deployed to Atlantic City, NJ to assist with evacuations from Hurricane IRENE. In 2012, the team spent 10 days in Atlantic Highlands, NJ to assist local companies with 911 response in the aftermath of Superstorm SANDY.