More than 20 Louisiana state fire marshal employees are heading to Puerto Rico to help with earthquake recovery efforts.
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the plans Wednesday after signing off on the deployment request from Puerto Rico's governor, Wanda Vázquez.
Edwards' office said Louisiana is sending 23 people from the fire marshal's office, including deputies, building inspectors, plan reviewers and specialists in urban search and rescue. The group will travel Thursday and is expected to be in Puerto Rico for 16 days.
Louisiana's contingent will help assess the thousands of damaged buildings for safety issues. Puerto Rico has been shaken by continuing earthquakes for more than a month. A 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit southern Puerto Rico on Jan. 25 at a shallow depth, raising concerns about unstable infrastructure in a region that was hit by quakes daily for nearly the entire month.