More than a week after Hurricane Beryl made its way through the Texas coast, firefighters from North Texas continue to provide support to the affected communities.
Fire departments from Grand Prairie, Arlington, and Flower Mound have helped meet various State needs, including mutual aid, urban search and rescue, and medical.
“We participate in Texas Task Force, which does a lot of urban search and rescue tasks, and we also participate in EMTF, which is the Emergency Medical Task Force (EMFT) for the State of Texas,” John Stevenson, Grand Prairie Fire Department’s Special Operations Chief.
And then we also participate in TIFMAS, the Texas Interstate Fire Mutual Aid System. So, each one of those provides a different, very specific mission package to support the residents.”
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The EMFT team was initially sent to the town of Livingston. The town’s hospital reportedly relied on a generator due to power outages caused by Hurricane Beryl.
"We sent out one of our captains, and he is an Ambulance Strike Team leader. The Ambulance Strike Team (includes) five ambulances with leadership and an AM bus, which is a bus that's specifically outfitted to handle medical patients," Stevenson said.
“They were… transporting the elderly and the sick to cooling stations, transporting other patients from hospitals that had no more electricity or backup power. They've also participated in delivering portable oxygen to those patients that are out of electricity.”
The EMFT team has since been relocated to Houston.
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“They're continuing that mission today,” Stevenson said.
A separate team, TIFMAS, is in the coastal town of Sargent.
“We can bring the fire trucks in to run 911 calls. We can support their mission,” Stevenson said. “Maybe their facilities were damaged, and we can support that from outside of their facilities. Maybe their personnel are dealing with their own emergencies at home.”
Stevenson said Grand Prairie and Arlington Fire reached an agreement on regional partnerships only a day before the July 6 deployment.
"We've worked out an agreement with the Arlington Fire Department that when we send our apparatus, we bring some of their firefighters with us, and we staff it with them," Stevenson said. "This regional integration that we have just furthers and strengthens our balance here in the region where, in North Texas, we are uniquely positioned and resource-rich. And that's why we can support those missions down to the Gulf Coast for hurricanes and tropical storms."
While their assigned 14-day mission ends this weekend, coastal counties still need help. Therefore, there is a chance an extension could be ordered.
“That 14 days is kind of a critical point where FEMA, the state, a lot of decision-makers will decide whether we're going to continue the mission, extend this mission out to 21 days, or return those assets back,” Stevenson said.
“And so, as of today, they're looking for those departments that can continue to support those missions into a 21-day mission.”
On Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the creation of the Senate Special Committee on Hurricane and Tropical Storm Preparedness, Recovery, and Electricity.
“Texans are rightfully upset with the overwhelming failure of electric utility companies to restore power in a timely fashion following Hurricane Beryl," Patrick said in a statement.
"The electric utility companies’ failure cannot be tolerated, especially when it was so obvious a storm was headed toward Texas. I am appointing this committee to review what happened and establish why certain electric utility companies appear to have been woefully unprepared for Hurricane Beryl. The Texas Senate will work to ensure electric utility companies respond more effectively to future storms.”
Stevenson said if needed, city leaders in Grand Prairie are on board to continue supporting the critical need.
“I am just extremely proud of our city council, our mayor, our fire chief, our city manager to understand the importance of us participating in these in these agencies that support Texans, supporting Texans,” Stevenson said.
"We're ready to respond to. And not negatively impact our services to the citizens of Grand Prairie.”
