CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The largest wildfire in Texas history ignited just one week ago. As officials in the Panhandle called on our Coastal Bend firefighters, only eight individuals apart of the Rapid Extrication Module force were qualified to answer the call.
"These members have taken extra training to understand the wildfire environment and also the equipment they're bringing with it," CCFD Fire Chief Brandon Wade said.
The extensive training is mandatory as these type of massive wildfires greatly differ from large structural fires.
"The terrain is extremely challenging so you're going into this case, canyons, large fields, thick brush, so trying to get into where the fire is at, that makes it difficult," Wade said. "On top of that, high winds that are pushing the fires at such incredible speeds."
Now the team of eight that has assisted in getting control of the historical fires are making new plans on where to head next.
"We still have four members that are deployed at various areas of the state which again are assisting the overhead," he said. "We're not expecting them to come back tomorrow but four members that were directly on the ground with the firefighters and the firefighting effort should be returning back tomorrow."
The other four that are still deployed will continue planning with state officials on ways to handle wildfires even more efficiently.
"We're helping develop the plans and rotating teams across the state," Wade said. "So, there may be teams from Dallas that are going and that's part of the planning piece that our members are assisting with. Where are we pulling teams? Because you don't want to deplete one agency or one location of their resources, so they really work on the overall statewide operations."
While the clean up process will be lengthy, with only 44% of the Smokehouse Creek fire contained, you can help the rebuilding process with the Red Cross Chapter of the Coastal Bend.
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