Bay County Sheriff's Office deploys staff to areas facing down Hurricane Milton's wrath

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Sheriff's Office has begun deploying resources to Pinellas County in preparation for Hurricane Milton's anticipated Tampa landfall.

A search and rescue team of five departed Tuesday morning before daybreak to head to an emergency operations center in Pinellas County. They took three shallow-water boats and two high-water vehicles to assist with the rescue effort as soon as the storm passes.

The BCSO says it plans to send a 20-person deployment team to neighboring Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, on Thursday. This crew will provide any services requested or needed in the area, to include security for distribution points, clearing roads, tarping homes, and relieving local law-enforcement so they can begin to recover in the aftermath.

"This is an opportunity to repay the generous help Bay County received six years ago from so many sheriffs across the state after Hurricane Michael," Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said. "The look on the faces of those in need when help arrives, I remember that feeling. To be able to bring that hope to others is gratifying and indeed a privilege."

A forward operating team of four BCSO personnel will also leave Thursday morning to Hillsborough County, where they will help coordinate and manage law enforcement resources throughout the area.

Ford is the chairman ofthe Florida Sheriff's Association Task Force, which manages the response to disasters between sheriff's offices. He's leaving for Tallahassee Wednesday morning.

Ruth Corley, BCSO public affairs specialist, emphasized the importance of being self-reliant as to not tax already sparse resources in affected areas. She said responding personnel have a tent, cots and their own food truck so they can have a minimal footprint while providing services to the community. When asked about the safety of staff present at landfall, Corley added that the team that left today will be staying in an emergency operations center, which is built to withstand Category 5 storm conditions.

The BCSO does not self-deploy after a disaster. Requests for assistance are made by agencies in affected areas to the state-level task force, which then coordinates where available law enforcement resources can be pulled from. While BCSO isn't explicitly chosen to respond because of its experience managing disasters, the agency has racked up quite a bit since Hurricane Michael made landfall this week six years ago.

The BCSO recently returned from assisting Suwannee County after Hurricane Helene made landfall nearly two weeks ago.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County Sheriff's Office deploys staff to areas facing down Hurricane Milton's wrath