Fairfax County's Virginia Task Force 1 sent a 10-person team to Panama after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the country Friday, Oct. 9. The deployment is the rescue unit's third international mission since June.

The team, which operates internationally as USA-01, was on the ground within 18 hours of the quake, according to WUSA9. Members are conducting structural assessments of hospitals, water treatment facilities and schools to determine which buildings are safe and where essential services can resume.

They are working alongside USA-02, the urban search-and-rescue team sponsored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

As of Sunday, Oct. 11, more than 900 homes and multiple bridges had been damaged, Patch reported, citing Reuters. Twenty-seven people were injured. No deaths had been reported, though authorities warned that figure could change as crews reached more remote areas.

The Trump administration committed $5 million in humanitarian assistance for the relief effort, according to WUSA9. The U.S. State Department also deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and two 10-person technical teams that arrived within 24 hours of the quake.

Three missions since June

The Panama deployment is the third international mission since June for the Fairfax County-sponsored team, which has about 200 trained responders.

Virginia Task Force 1 mobilized roughly 80 first responders and six dogs to Venezuela on June 25 after back-to-back 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes. Over 10 days, the team triaged 74 sites and helped pull five people alive from rubble, including a mother and her nine-month-old baby, according to WTOP.

In August, 10 Fairfax County firefighters deployed to Colombia after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 300 people. Capt. Michael Eddy, who led that mission, said after returning Aug. 21 that the small team "did an astronomical amount of work down there," as WTOP reported.

Local ties

Virginia Task Force 1 is sponsored by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue and partners with FEMA for domestic responses and the State Department for international missions.

Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, who represents McLean and Great Falls, wrote on X on May 14 after watching a full-scale training exercise that the team is "a point of pride for our community" that operates with "no local tax impact."

No return date for the Panama deployment has been announced.