Aug. 23--WESLACO -- Fire and police chiefs from Brownsville to Zapata listened carefully as they gathered in the Weslaco Public Facilities building Thursday morning to plan the region's first inclusion in an elite disaster response team.
"I'm sure when this presentation started you all thought everybody in your department would want to be on the team, and as the presentation continued that pool narrowed," Edinburg fire Chief Shawn Snider said.
"Exactly. This is not for the weak."
The meeting kicked off the formation of a Rio Grande Valley contingent of Texas Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team that has responded to crises nationwide, including the West fertilizer plant explosion, Hurricane Katrina, and even the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.
South Texas was never able to participate because of distance. The task force required that members be deployed to its headquarters in College Station within six hours.
That changed with legislation state Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, D-Weslaco, ushered through the Legislature this year that allows the region to create a team of first responders that will mobilize here and join the task force when it's deployed.
"It's been a long time coming," said Martinez, himself a city firefighter and paramedic.
Billy Parker, director of Task Force 1, told the group that the best model would prioritize training for swiftwater rescue, structural collapse and wide area searches. He stressed that most emergencies that task force members are likely to see will involve water.
Jeff Saunders -- operations chief with the Texas Engineering Extension Service, which oversees the task force -- emphasized the commitment level of members who must be ready to go at a moment's notice with supplies they could live on for anywhere from three days to two weeks.
The more challenging part of building the team may be in filling specialized roles such as medics, boat operators and search and rescue dogs. Organizers of the effort emphasized that all area agencies are invited to submit their toughest members.
"We want everybody to be a part of this, inclusive, a true Valley team," Parker said.
The Valley will likely contribute some 105 to 130 people, said Snider, who has helped spearhead the initiative. Selection of members will take place in the next two months, with the goal of having a functioning team within a year.
"This was to get the agencies on board, and now they go back and get their people," Snider said.
Copyright 2013 - The Monitor, McAllen, Texas
