CHANTILLY, Va. (DC News Now) -- Dozens of first responders from Northern Virginia are on their way to Florida in anticipation of Tropical Storm Helene. The Virginia Task Force 1 crew includes rescuers with a great deal of experience during storms and other natural disasters. The team of 80 people, four dogs and 30 tons of equipment left Chantilly on Tuesday afternoon and was expected to arrive in Florida at night, with FEMA assisting with where the team should go. "We don't know what the storm is going to do," said Jennifer Hiner, who has been a part of roughly a dozen trips as a Virginia Task Force 1 member. Fairfax County awards grant to startup working on long-lasting batteries for solar powered homes This is the third consecutive year the same has traveled to Florida. The team includes a wide area search and rescue team, a water rescue team and a team of people trained to make rescues in collapsed buildings. There are also trained dogs, including Vader, who is Paul Serzan's six-year-old black lab. "It takes two and a half years to train a dog to do the type of work that he does," Serzan said. "For them, it's just a simple game of hide and go seek. We train them to look for somebody. They give a bark alert when they find somebody, and then they get their toy." The members of the team said there are mixed emotions before a trip of this magnitude, but they feel a sense of purpose. "There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of excitement," Serzan said. "We're highly skilled, highly trained individuals. This is like our Super Bowl for us. We train very hard for these moments." Hiner added, "It's just in our blood that we are ready to help when anybody's in need. So we're eager to get down there."