West Midlands, U.K., Fire & Rescue officials visit TEEX

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Officials from the West Midlands, U.K., Fire and Rescue visited TEEX Disaster Preparedness and Response division recently, where they were able to observe a mobilization of Texas Task Force 1, which was staged in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex for the Super Bowl.

After observing the mobilization in College Station, the visitors traveled to the TX-TF1 Base of Operations in the metroplex and to the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, were they viewed a WMD and CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear & Explosive) monitoring operation at the stadium prior to the Super Bowl.

The officials were interested in observing the emergency management and response operations and coordination involved in the Super Bowl, in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, which will be held in the U.K., said Brian Smith with Disaster Preparedness and Response.

During their four-day visit, the group also met with personnel at the Disaster District Committee office in Garland, which was responsible for local coordination of state assets staged for the Super Bowl. ESF-9 Liaison Officer David Martin led the tour of the DDC. The West Midlands officials also met with the Texas Forest Service Incident Management Team (IMT) and visited the State Operations Center in Austin.