this is Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley our Emergency Response Team deputies were activated by the Florida Sheriff Association task force in state Emergency Management to assist our brothers and sisters at the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office as the deal with the incredibly difficult challenge of keeping Law and Order in an environment that is heavily damaged after Hurricane Ian made landfall more than 80 000 FPL customers in Charlotte County were without power and when power was restored some homes were destroyed by fire we deployed two ERT squads since hurricane Ian passed through Florida nearly a month ago the first team came home already after a 10-day deployment and our second team will return this Saturday our deputies handled calls for service delivered food and snacks conducted numerous traffic stops and assisted Charlotte County deputies in making arrests and investigating curfew violations and suspicious persons to help stop looters from preying on victims for Hurricane Ian's wrath more than 300 Deputy sheriffs from around Florida were deployed to the hardest hit areas we even provided a dispatcher for the Hardy County Sheriff's Office because of the devastation our team had to be self-contained with housing and food so as you can see we basically set up a camp in the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office district one parking lot our Campground was joined by deputies from Baker Bay in Escambia counties along with many others who were also assisting earlier this week I met with our team in Charlotte County and went on patrol with our Emergency Response Team Commander John doff for the next three hours I saw firsthand how hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida let me take you along on our Patrol to get a first hand look it wasn't long before we found a stranded driver that had driven over hurricane debris and got a flat tire Commander Dopp and I changed her attire and within 20 minutes had her on her way again we then patrolled some of the most devastated areas of Charlotte and Lee counties we saw mobile home communities totally destroyed roads still flooded phone and cable lines down in many homes and businesses damaged along with piles of debris everywhere it will be a long time before Southwest Florida recovers it was our honor to support our brothers and sisters at the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and serving their community in time of need I know they will do the same thing for us if a hurricane devastates Flagler County I want to thank our team for their dedication and their families for deploying to Charlotte County they did an outstanding job in Sheriff permell told me more than once how grateful he was for the help and in case anyone is wondering who paid for this we are submitting all costs associated with this deployment to FEMA for reimbursement so there will be no cost to Flagler County taxpayers