NEWS INFORMATION FROM

THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
20 December 2004

EMERGENCY SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM DISPATCHED TO WILLIAMSPORT AREA

Harrisburg, PA – Mayor Stephen R. Reed this afternoon announced that a special emergency search and rescue team, comprised of ten personnel and four tracking dogs, is being dispatched to the Williamsport area of Lycoming County to accelerate and enhance the search for a 9-year old boy who has been missing from his home since Saturday evening.

The personnel are from elements of the Pennsylvania Task Force One and the Harrisburg Fire Bureau, and the order to deploy to Lycoming County was approved by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency this afternoon after receiving a request from Lycoming County officials who requested specialized help.

 The City of Harrisburg is the statewide administrator of the PA Task Force One, which includes highly trained personnel for deployment anywhere in the United States and Pennsylvania for high risk emergency response and search and rescue missions. They were the first team dispatched to the World Trade Center collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.

 Like the Harrisburg area, subfreezing temperatures have affected the Lycoming County area in the past 24 hours, making the search effort more urgent for the lost child, Reed said.