r/Firefighting • u/H0sedragg3r FF/ EMT • Jul 07 '25

News Firefighters from Mexico respond to Texas Hill Country flooding, marking an international response

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2025/07/07/firefighters-from-mexico-respond-to-texas-hill-country-flooding-marking-an-international-response/
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bag8314 Jul 07 '25

Did they show up ?

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u/L_DUB_U Jul 08 '25

Yes a long with TIFMAS and two state task forces.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Bag8314 Jul 08 '25

The two FEMA task force teams ? How many teams are stood up at one time nationwide and how many states would normally be represented at an event this size ?

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u/L_DUB_U Jul 08 '25

Yes, the two FEMA task forces that are activated by the Governor of the State and when a nation wide request comes in the Governor approves the activation. FEMA doesn't own much for responses, they only pay for the response. The task forces are composed of many people who specialize in specific skills. They have 3 groups with one group on standby for a 30 day cycle. They have to be able to be at College Station within a certain time frame when activated.

Texas is pretty proactive for wildfires and flooding. Typically they will have strike teams for wildfires prepositioned in the area of high fire danger to be able to respond. Typically they have boat teams in areas where flooding is expected. Unfortunately, in events like this you can never be prepared enough or have enough resources in the exact area to prevent a event like this from happening.

I am not sure how many out of state teams are currently in Texas. Texas has TIFMAS which can pull resources from every fire department in the state that has the equipment and specialized skills that the incident needs. Unless helicopters, airplanes, or some type of equipment that you don't normally see in fire station isn't needed or immediately available, it can come from within the state. A good point is the coast guard helicopters with rescue swimmers. Not many city or state agencies have helicopters and rescue swimmers, so the request is made thru FEMA for those federal resources.