recently we went inside the star with special operations to learn more about how our hurricane deployment team trains to respond to natural disasters here at home and abroad in the wake of a powerful hurricane devastated communities make headlines and mutual aid flows in these communities are often in need of assistance because their entire public safety infrastructure is crippled by storm damage impassable roadways and lack of adequate equipment this is where the hurricane deployment team comes in earlier this month we joined part of the team for a day of training the training covered three main areas humvee operations all-terrain vehicle operations and tent assembly we've recently acquired six military surplus humvees for use in severe flooding situations the stripped down humvees have no armoring or weapon mounting systems but can traverse a variety of terrain and ford up to four feet of water after a full orientation to the new vehicles team members were required to perform a series of maneuvers including an emergency stop on loose terrain a serpentine while driving forward and backward forward a body of water and traverse steep inclines training was brought full circle later in the session when members put their skills to the test on a trail ride the pinellas county sheriff's office has a variety of all-terrain vehicles including four-wheelers and side-by-sides all with significant off-road capabilities when a storm strikes roads are often left impassable with normal full-size vehicles making the smaller more cable vehicles very valuable certification on the atvs requires members to perform a variety of maneuvers on both the four-wheelers and side-by-side vehicles this includes making sharp turns turns at speed and traversing varying types of terrain these maneuvers are particularly important on the four wheelers as riders must learn to shift their weight to prevent overturning the least exciting but undoubtedly most important portion of the training taught members how to assemble the tents utilized by the deployment team in the field these tents are efficiently packaged and can be assembled and air conditioned in a matter of minutes to provide shelter and to serve as a temporary headquarters during deployment the hurricane deployment team and the many assets it entails are always available to the citizens of pinellas county and our neighbors throughout the region even if disaster strikes we're prepared to continue leading the way for a safer pinellas this was brought to you by inside the star your window into the pinellas county sheriff's office