Ventura County Urban Search and Rescue prepare for storm

Ventura County Urban Search and Rescue crews are gearing up for the upcoming storm.

Bob Schuett is going on 20 years with the Search and Rescue team. It is the only one of its kind in the county.

On Wednesday afternoon, the crew was hard at work prepping for a storm to hit a county reeling from a major wildfire.

“Obviously we are concentrating on any debris flows, potential mudflows into homes and really focusing on the areas that were burned during the Woolsey Fire,” said Schuett.

The crew of 12 people is getting equipment ready before the rain comes.

“We will staff a swift water rescue team,” said Schuett. “They will be focusing on the inland waterways because we have people that fall into a channel and they are in a waterway and they are not able to get out so we end up having a swift water rescue. That is a six-person team. They were be focusing during the day at the beach because we also have high surf.”

The other six-person team is set for urban search and rescue. They’ll focus on potential mudflows and collapsed structures.

Somewhere between an inch to an inch and a half is expected near the coast and up to 2 to 3-inches in the foothills for the upcoming rainstorm.

“Because of the impact of the fires we are now looking at hillside erosion, and whatever other debris that has been dislodged,” said Schuett.

Schuett says the Thomas Fire burn scar is a secondary concern.

“If there is an area we are focusing on now regarding the Thomas burn, we are looking at Ojai, just because of the population proximity to the Thomas Fire burn area,” said Schuett. “We do have units up there, but again the focus for right now is the Woolsey Fire area.”

As crews wait for the rain to arrive, they are traveling to areas of concern getting familiar with the terrain.

“Once it gets dark and once it rains everything looks different so we want to be able to see an area that we are going to go into and we want to see it in the daytime,” said Schuett.