Marble Falls Area, TX, Fire Chief Goes Missing While Searching in Floods
By Yvette Orozco
Source Houston Chronicle
Jul. 5—Michael Phillips, a fire chief in the Marble Falls area, went missing Saturday after being swept away by floodwaters while responding to a call in Cow Creek in Travis County, a Burnet County official said.
Phillips was driving an emergency vehicle when he went missing Saturday morning, said Derek Marchio, coordinator for the Burnet County office of Emergency Management.
Phillips is chief of the Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department and was responding to an emergency related to the same Fourth of July weather event that has killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, in the Kerrville area, Marchio told the Chronicle.
Cow Creek rises eight miles southeast of Burnet in southeast central Burnet County in the Colorado River, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
Marble Falls around 50 miles northwest of Austin, on the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country.
Phillips has volunteered as fire chief for the department since 1995, according to his Facebook page and LinkedIn page. He retired in 2023 from the Marble Falls Independent School District as maintenance director, the social media pages state.
Dozens more remained missing Saturday evening, officials said during a news conference.
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