USAR

Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) has activated and deployed six swiftwater and two helicopter rescue teams to South Texas. The Rio Grande river has potential to flood over the next few days as more rain is predicted in South Texas.

With Tropical Storm Alex presenting an increasing potential threat to South Texas, the Governor of Texas has authorized Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) to activate and plan for deployment ahead of the storm.

Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) swiftwater rescue
teams have been demobilized by the Texas Division of Emergency
Management after two days of heavy rains throughout Central and
Northeast Texas.

Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) has deployed seven swiftwater rescue teams throughout Central Texas at the direction of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, to assist local responders following severe weather that dropped as much as 12 inches of rainfall on New Braunfels in several hours. TX-TF1 has also staged helicopter rescue technicians with two Texas Military Forces UH-60 helicopters, which are equipped with a special hoist and carry water rescue equipment.

Texas Task Force 1 (TX-TF1) will hone its skills in preparation for future responses by participating in a Full-Scale Exercise (FSE) this weekend in Disaster City® in College Station, TX. The 80-member TX-TF1 Red Team will be joined by more than 220 international search and rescue experts along with 200 medical responders for the two-day event. This is the largest exercise of this type ever hosted in Disaster City.

The Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Urban Search and Rescue division has created a Swiftwater Calculator application for water rescue technicians. In three easy steps, responders can use the application to calculate the speed of the current and then determine the maximum distance a person in the water has traveled downstream.

A robot challenge, the Response Robot Evaluation Exercise, sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, was held in Disaster City® on March 8-12 to develop comprehensive standards for urban search and rescue robotics. More than 110 participants and 23 robots were on hands, in addition to 22 emergency responders, who took over the controls for two days, put the robots through their paces, and provided feedback to NIST and the manufacturers.

For the fourth year in a row, robotics experts and emergency responders are gathering at TEEX’s Disaster City® in College Station to evaluate and test the latest generation of robots.

Three instructors will be in College Station to provide TEEX Urban Search and Rescue students with valuable insight and understanding of the unique challenges faced by responders immediately following a large-scale incident. All of these individuals are members of New York Task Force 1 (NY-TF1) and were part of the rescue and humanitarian efforts immediately following the Haiti earthquake disaster.

TEEX’s Urban Search & Rescue division has launched the first iPhone application designed, tested and fielded by the agency. The Disaster City Guide application, which is available at no cost on iTunes, provides users with basic information about what to do to prepare for and survive various disasters.