Urban Search and Rescue Texas Task Force 1
Texas Task Force 1, abbreviated TX-TF1, is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, one of 28 teams that form the FEMA National Urban Search and Rescue System, and as such it is in rotation for deploying to national disasters and incidents of national significance. It is sponsored by the Texas Engineering Extension Service and headquartered in College Station, Texas.
Texas Task Force 1 was organized in 1997, and officially joined the FEMA National US&R System as a full, non-probationary member in June 2001.
Texas Task Force 1 personnel have responded to incidents such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. Texas Task Force 1 was dispatched to the April 17, 2013 West fertilizer plant explosion and were dispatched to assist in the wake of the 2013 Moore tornado. In 2014 they were dispatched to an area outside of Little Rock, Arkansas to assist after a number of tornadoes hit the area.
Texas Task Force One consists of a Type I and a Type III Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team as well as a Water Rescue Task Force.
It is made up of responders from over 60 jurisdictions across Texas and has over 450 active members, all of whom must reside within a five-hour radius of College Station. Firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, structural engineers, and canine handlers are among those making up the Task Force teams. Each month, one team is on stand-up, one team is on stand-by, and one team is on stand-down; the stand-up team must be ready 24 hours a day to be mobilized and deployed within four hours.
Texas Task Force 1 members are trained as specialists as well as cross-trained in other jobs on the task force. Members are required to complete over 90 hours of training per year, attend regional training four times a year and attend an annual full-scale exercise in Disaster City. Texas Task Force 1 members bring a variety of full-time job skills to the task force. Designed to be logistically self-sufficient for the first 72 hours of operation, the task force is able to function for up to 10 days under remote and austere conditions.
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