Horseshoe Bay firefighters deployed to aid flood response
Horseshoe Bay personnel pose with the Horseshoe Bay swift-water boat, SWR Keiffer, alongside Llano personnel while awaiting assignment in Fredericksburg. HSB Fire Engineer Thad Martin (Left), HSB Engineer Will Herron, an unidentified Llano firefighter, HSB Battalion Chief Ben Miller, and three unidentified Llano firefighters. Courtesy photo of HSB Fire Department.
As severe weather and flooding impacted parts of Central Texas this week, the Horseshoe Bay Fire Department deployed firefighters and equipment to assist with flood response efforts.
According to Fire Chief Doug Fowler, two Horseshoe Bay firefighters deployed on Wednesday, July 15, with two Marble Falls Fire Rescue personnel aboard a Marble Falls fire engine as part of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS). The all-hazards unit was initially assigned to Boerne before being reassigned Thursday to Uvalde.
The crew is committed for up to three weeks, although Fowler said deployments often end sooner once conditions improve.
The department also answered a local mutual aid request Wednesday from the Llano Volunteer Fire Department, sending a three-person swift-water boat team to join Llano crews before deploying to Willow City and later Fredericksburg.
“Their mission is to conduct rescue and to move displaced people due to the flood,” Fowler told DailyTrib.
Although the boat team did not perform any rescues, it was strategically positioned in an area cut off from other rescue resources to provide support if needed. The Horseshoe Bay boat team worked alongside crews from the Llano Volunteer Fire Department and Fredericksburg Fire Department during the response.
Fowler said the department regularly participates in mutual aid operations, both statewide and locally.
“We participate in TIFMAS deployments year-round,” he said. “We have deployed nine times this year. The deployments are usually for wildfire or floods, but that’s not all they can respond to.”
He added that local mutual aid requests are a routine part of fire service operations.
“This is typical normal daily business for Horseshoe Bay, both providing and receiving aid,” Fowler said.