Longboat firefighters volunteer to help with Hurricane Dorian rescues

A pair of Longboat Key firefighters are on their way to Orlando with a team of first responders from Manatee County to help out with rescues as Hurricane Dorian crawls through the Bahamas toward its expected swing to the north up the state’s Atlantic coast.

The contingent from East Manatee joined six other fire departments at North River Fire Station 5 in Palmetto to form a convoy headed toward Orlando to be in position for deployment if needed. Firefighters from East Manatee, the city of Bradenton, Cedar Hammock, Longboat Key, North River, Southern Manatee and West Manatee met on Labor Day at North River 5, had a brief meeting and then pulled out at 7:30 a.m. for the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

Longboat firefighters Brian Kolesa and Bryan Carr volunteered to be assigned to the West Manatee unit that is participating in this strike force, which headed for the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for staging.

"Part of this job is helping the community, so that is what we are doing," Kolesa said. "So I see this as just part of my job. I'm excited to be part of a bigger organization's strike force.

"We could be doing anything, but we get trained to face anything. When they tell you to go, you go."

The firefighters were told to expect to be gone for 10 days.

"I am sure she is concerned,’’ Kolsea said of his wife, Abby. “We have a small child, and she will be the head of the household for a while."

Last year, two firefighters from Longboat Key traveled to the Mexico Beach area after Hurricane Michael’s devastating strike there.