TX-TF1 demobilized from FEMA deployment for Hurricane Isaac

COLLEGE STATION — The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service will welcome home Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) today. The Task Force has been demobilized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from deployment to Louisiana and is on its way back to College Station this evening. The demobilization came after Hurricane Isaac was downgraded to a Tropical Storm and moved out of Louisiana.

The team was activated on Aug. 27 at the request of FEMA, along with other federal resources. The team has been staged and on standby in Alexandria, La., since Tuesday. TX-TF1 serves as both a state and federal urban search and rescue team.

The TX-TF1 team which was activated for this deployment was a Type I Urban Search and Rescue Team which is comprised of 80 personnel, 4 search and rescue canines, search and technical rescue personnel, physicians, paramedics, structural engineers, other support personnel, and approximately 50 tons of rescue equipment and supplies. The team is self-sustaining for 3 to 5 days and deployable by aircraft to anywhere within 4 hours of activation. The task force has also deployed over 80 times, to include the Shuttle Columbia disaster, the World Trade Center, Hurricanes Katrina and Ike.

About Texas Task Force 1
Texas Task Force 1 is sponsored by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) and is one of 28 teams in the FEMA national urban search and rescue system. Texas Task Force 1 and TEEX coordinate statewide requests for search and rescue.

About the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service
TEEX, a member of The Texas A&M University System, offers hands-on, customized, first-responder training, homeland security exercises, technical assistance and technology transfer services impacting Texas and beyond. TEEX programs include fire services, homeland security, law enforcement, public works, safety and health, search and rescue, and economic development.