FAA Investigates Harlingen, TX, Fire Department’s Airport Firefighting Practices

HARLINGEN — City officials are standing behind the Harlingen Fire Department and its team of specialized airfield firefighters, responding to former Valley International Airport Director Marv Esterly’s concerns leading to the fourth federal investigation since 2017.

In November, Esterly called on the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate concerns largely stemming from the fire department’s aircraft rescue and firefighting team.

“Ensuring the highest standards of safety for the traveling public, airport personnel and all airfield operations is the city’s foremost priority and Harlingen stands ready to work collectively with the FAA to advance and maintain best practices across all airport functions,” city leaders told FAA officials in a Dec. 3 report obtained by the Valley Morning Star.

In a Nov. 18 letter to Warren Relaford, the FAA’s airport certification safety inspector, Esterly reported “serious concerns regarding the safety and operational readiness of the airport rescue firefighting program,” adding, “collectively, these issues demonstrate an ongoing lack of proficiency and preparedness within the ARFF program. Without immediate corrective measures, there is an elevated risk of system breakdown — or worse, a catastrophic failure during an actual emergency.”

In his letter, Esterly requested the FAA review the fire department’s personnel rotation policy which he argued had removed most experienced firefighters from the airport’s specialized team.

However, city officials argued the fire department’s rotation and reassignments of its specialized team’s members served to develop higher-skilled airfield firefighters.

“The Harlingen Fire Department maintains a structured rotation policy under which one aircraft rescue and firefighting-qualified firefighter per shift is reassigned annually,” city officials wrote in a letter to Relaford.

“This measured rotation is designed to ensure that all personnel develop and maintain the full range of competencies required for both structural firefighting and ARFF operations,” officials said. “The department does not conduct wholesale or high-volume rotations. Rather, the annual reassignment of a single firefighter per shift allows the department to balance continuity, experience and workforce development while maintaining proficiency across all assignments.”

Among his concerns, Esterly argued the fire department’s rotation practice results in “inexperience” that led to the firefighting team’s failure to monitor a radio frequency known as Valley Approach during night operations when the air traffic control tower’s closed.

In response, city officials said the firefighting team doesn’t monitor the Valley Approach frequency as part of the airport’s procedures because the radio frequency is primarily used to facilitate communication between pilots and the air traffic control tower.

A firefighter’s turnout coat hangs in the equipment locker Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Harlingen Fire Department Station #3. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

Meanwhile, officials pointed to what they described as an issue in question stemming from the firefighting team’s reporting of “a pilot communication deficiency.”

“The issue prompting this FAA inquiry originated not from any ARFF deviation but rather from ARFF personnel reporting a pilot communication deficiency on (common traffic advisory frequency) during unmanned tower operations,” they wrote, adding a firefighter had reported “pilots were failing to provide positioned or taxi callouts on (the radio frequency) during night hours.”

Among his concerns, Esterly cited the fire department’s decision to scrap “proximity firefighting gear,” which protects against higher degrees of radiant heat, to “structural gear” without conducting a risk assessment study.

But city officials said the fire department stopped equipping its firefighting team with proximity gear after a Texas Commission on Fire Protection inspector found “certain components of the ARFF proximity ensemble, specifically the proximity gloves, were non-compliant” in March 2025.

After the inspector “expressly instructed HFD that combining structural gloves and proximity suits or proximity gloves with structural ensembles was not allowed,” the fire department scrapped its proximity suits for structural suits, officials said.

“HFD therefore determined that continued use of proximity ensembles, given the expired gloves and the prohibition on mixing components, would not comply with state firefighter safety regulations,” they wrote.

Esterly’s concerns included what he described as the firefighting team’s failure to conduct runway inspections aimed at detecting the potential hazard of “wildlife” on the landing strip.

In the city’s response to the FAA, officials said the concerns surrounded birds, which “were never on either the runway of the taxiway.”

While the control tower’s dispatcher was unable to provide firefighters with the birds’ location, the team lacks the equipment and authority to attempt to disperse wildlife, officials wrote, adding, “wildlife mitigation responsibilities have been assigned to airport staff.”

The FAA’s investigation marks the agency’s fourth probe into the fire department’s airport firefighting team in about eight years.

From 2017 to 2024, the FAA cited the fire department for three training violations, while Esterly self-reported “misleading” entries raising concerns of the possibility of records falsifications in training logs stemming from two sessions in June and July 2024.

As the FAA closed its investigation based on its 2024 findings, the agency described the fire department’s violations as “isolated” and “not systemic” to the city’s training program.

The post Harlingen responds to FAA airport investigation appeared first on MyRGV.com.

© 2026 Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas). Visit www.valleymorningstar.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.