Fairfax County team in Texas helping Hurricane Harvey victims

The Fairfax team brought seven boards to Texas. [FCFRD photos]

The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Team is in the Houston area helping with the emergency response to the severe flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.

So far, the team, VA-TF1, helped evacuate six residents in the Kingwood, Texas, area, and also helped people with their pets and ferried residents back to their homes so they could recover personal necessities, such as medications and valuables, FCFRD Assistant Chief Chuck Ryan reported.

Severe flooding stranded many thousands of people.

They then relocated to the Katy area with other FEMA teams where they restocked their supplies and maintained their boats.

The 14-person team consists of firefighters and paramedics trained in swift water rescue. They brought seven boats to Texas, including four flat-bottomed aluminum boats for use in still waters and three inflatable Zodiac boats for rougher waters.

VA-TF1 is one of 28 FEMA urban search and rescue teams. The team is expected to spend about two weeks in Texas.

The FCFRD’s Fill the Boot fundraising campaign, underway this weekend, will also aid victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Every year during the Labor Day weekend, firefighters collect money from motorists at intersections across the county to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. After consulting with representatives from the organization, a decision was made to allocate $50,000 from the 2017 Fairfax County Fill the Boot donations toward a disaster relief fund.