Oklahoma firefighters assisting in Texas flooding response, local fire chief shares details

Officials in Texas have confirmed the death toll from catastrophic flooding has risen to at least 104 people, with 28 of those being children.

Oklahoma Task Force One (OKTF-1) has arrived in Texas and is assisting with disaster relief.

SEE ALSO: Oklahoma Task Force 1, Baptist Disaster Relief aids Texas flood response

News 9 spoke with Oklahoma City Fire Department Chief Scott Douglas to learn more about the role of Oklahoma firefighters in Texas.

Q: Can you explain what the Oklahoma rescue teams are doing right now in Texas? 

A: We received the call on Saturday, and as soon as we got those calls, there was no time wasted. We received the calll, our team was out by 5 p.m. Saturday, 8 or 9-hour drive, they arrived early Sunday morning, and they hit the ground running. Yesterday, (Monday) they were drafted into the local 911 system, and they were kind of bounced around a little bit, just trying to work where they can and with whom they can work. They were around Hamilton. They went to New Braunfels and they were around Copperas, Texas, and they wound up at Marble Falls, Texas, last night. They're just drafted into the 911 emergency system there. They do have one lead technician there locally that they're taking their calls from, but they're just taking calls as they come and they're assisting. They had two incidents yesterday, they were searching for some missing people and we're drafted into the system there. Just doing what we can to help out. 

Q: What do those rescues and recoveries look like? 

A: They are still acting as a swift water team. Speaking to our team leader last night, he said the waters are really not as swift as they were. So the waters are receding, which is a good thing, and they said the local forecast there does not have any more rain coming in, thankfully, and hopefully that stays the case. The waters are receding and the waters are coming down a little bit, so it's more transitioning into search efforts.

Q: How hard is that to go through that debris? The mud is so deep, it's hard to comprehend what you're watching. 

A: That's exactly what our team leader said last night. I was talking with him, and he's like, you see this on TV, but he says when you're standing on the banks of these rivers and there's swells of debris and trees, that's 6-8 feet taller than you. He said, being ground-level there, it's just unimaginable what went on there. 

Q: How do swift water rescuers in Oklahoma train for stuff like this? What does that training look like?

A: We train often, especially these summer months, and we try to hit the warmer weather. We even train in the winter months, because we do get calls in the winter as well. But it's a year-round training, we have a dive team, we have our swift water technicians, we have three stations with the swiftwater taxi. It's a 40-hour rescue technician class that they go through. They have to go to a boat operations class, and then the training is just year-round for these guys. 

Q: What is the power of the water like in those trainings?

A: It is intense. It is intense, and that's what we actually train in that water, in that swift current, and what's tough is a lot of people realize we have so many injuries just in our training. We want to try to simulate those swift waters as much as possible, but it is difficult training. Typically, in a week-long class, we have 8 or 10 injuries, and some of these are severe. We have broken bones and we've had broken ankles and all kinds of injuries, so we want to try to simulate that water as much as possible, so when the call does come in, we're prepared for it. 

Q: What about the emotional toll this takes on rescuers as well?

A: It's tough, you know, it's tougher when you see loved ones on the bank trying to search for loved ones. It's something that we're accustomed to, I know that's difficult to say, but you have to get to a point where you know we're there to help, and that's what you have to realize. Thankfully, we do have a licensed counselor with our fire department now. If any of our firefighters are having issues, we're just a phone call away from getting that help, if we need it.

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