SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The future of FEMA was called into question when President Trump said he was considering getting rid of FEMA. Since that comment, the President has ordered a review of the department.

“We get where we are at, we understand what is going on there on the federal side. That is just going to play out the way it is going to play out,” says Gale Blomenkamp, Assistant Chief of Boone County Fire Protection District.

Missouri Task Force 1 is the Urban Search and Rescue team based out of Boone County, Missouri. The team is made up of first responders from across the state, including firefighters right here in the Ozarks.

“People are still training, we are still spending the necessary funds we need to keep this task force ready for deployment, and as far as we are concerned, that is what we are going to keep doing,” says Blomenkamp.

Task Force 1 was first deployed on September 11, 2001, to Ground Zero. Since then, the team has responded to natural disasters across the country and here in the Ozarks. A majority of their funding comes from FEMA.

“There is the ability to respond both to local devastation as well as national hurricanes and so forth is second to none,” says Brian Seitz, a Republican Missouri House Member from Taney County.

Representative Brian Seitz says that no matter what the future holds, those in Jefferson City will work to ensure that Missouri Task Force 1 has a future in the state.

“We are going to do everything that we can here in the capital regardless of what happens to FEMA. There is no doubt that President Trump is correct, FEMA needs reform from the top down. But Missouri Task Force 1 can actually be a model even for FEMA, and I think we are going to continue to support them, both monetarily and every way we can here in the state capitol,” says Seitz.

Missouri Task Force 1 received funding from the state in the budget last year.

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