PA-Task Force 1 is one of 28 federal search-and-rescue teams that formed in states across the country after vast devastation from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake exposed gaps in the nation's emergency response system. Each team includes rescue swimmers, boat operators, hazmat experts, heavy riggers, medics, logistics specialists, and dogs trained to find people in collapsed structures. The teams work at the request of state and local emergency management officials, so members have little control over where they're sent or the sort of rescue work they're asked to do.