2003.81.4

The personal letter, typed by a high school student, to rescue workers helping to find/rescue survivors/bodies of victims of the Septmeber 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, was given to the Oakland Fire Department as a gift. Each of the teams deployed to help with Search and Rescue received a portion of the hundrends of letters sent in their support.

Of the 28 US&R Task Forces FEMA oversees throughout the country, 20 were deployed to New York. By October 7, nearly 1,300 US&R members and 80 dogs had been deployed by FEMA in a $25 million mission. FEMA activated 25 of its 28 national Urban Search and Rescue task forces in response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks -- the largest US&R deployment in U.S. history. These teams were deployed as part of the National US&R Response System, operating under FEMA authority. List of the California FEMA teams deployed:California Task Force 1 (Los Angeles City Fire Department)California Task Force 3 (Menlo Park Fire Department)California Task Force 4 (Oakland Fire Department)California Task Force 6 (Riverside Fire Department)California Task Force 7 (Sacramento Fire Department)California Task Force 8 (San Diego Fire Department)