Fairfax and Md. water rescue teams deployed to Texas for Hurricane Harvey help

Fairfax swift water rescue team prepares to deploy to Texas. Courtesy photo.

Emergency response teams from Fairfax County, Va. and Montgomery County, Md. have been deployed to Texas to assist in the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department Assistant Chief Chuck Ryan says a 14-person team of firefighters and paramedics trained in swift water rescue, left Sunday for Texas. They took seven boats with them: four flat-bottomed aluminum boats for use in still waters, and three inflatable boats for swift-water rescues.

Ryan said the task force left Chantilly, Sunday afternoon for Houston, where they had been assigned over the weekend by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Upon their arrival, the group was sent to San Antonio by FEMA officials.

Meanwhile, about 30 people from Montgomery County’s Fire and Rescue Service left Maryland Sunday, headed for Texas as well. According to Montgomery County spokesman Pete Piringer, the team, originally deployed by FEMA to Houston, was redeployed to a staging center in Austin.

The Virginia and Maryland task forces are two of FEMA’s 28 Urban Search and Rescue teams nationwide. Both teams will be deployed to Texas for 14 days.