LOS ANGELES – At least 24 people have died in the fires that are rapidly spreading across California.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has since directed the deployment of 135 Texas first responders to help fight the West Coast fires and respond to emergencies.
The crews of first responders from Texas are made up of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, The Texas A&M Forest Service, the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, and the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force.
The Alamo Strike Team, led by New Braunfels firefighter Jeremy VanAusdall, comprises 22 firefighters.
“We’re currently assigned to the Palisades fire in Malibu, California,” VanAusdall said.
The Alamo Strike Team has first responders from Bexar-Bulverde, Boerne, Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, Pharr, and Schertz.
“This is unprecedented weather for early January in California,” VanAusdall said. “To see weather patterns like this, to see this type of fire behavior this early in January. This is devastation beyond anything that I’ve ever seen.”
Three of the 22 members of the Alamo Strike Team are from New Braunfels.
“The pride for me is that our members aren’t just going to assist from an operations standpoint,” said the New Braunfels Fire Department Chief Ruy Lozano. “Many of them are leaders in those endeavors.”
One of those leaders is VanAusdall, who has been a firefighter for 25 years, and throughout those 25 years, he said nothing compares to what he is seeing in the Palisades right now.
“Humbled this morning to drive essentially from the West Side of the fire to the East Side of the fire all along the coastline and saw some pretty devastating sights,” VanAusdall said. “That’s something that I’ve never seen in my life for sure.”
While the devastation is unimaginable, the South Texas teams working on these fires are prepared.
“Last year alone, we did send out two different deployments,” said Chris Shadrock.
Shadrock works for the City of Boerne, which has one first responder fighting fires in California. The firefighter’s name is Santiago Anaya.
“Last year, we sent firefighters out to the Abilene-West Texas area, and then we also sent firefighters out to the Texas Panhandle Smokehouse Creek Fire, which ended up being the largest one in the state,” Shadrock said.
VanAusdall said they’re committed to 14 days of 24-hour and 24-hour off shifts. If South Texas services are needed beyond that timeframe, additional first responders are ready to serve.
“There is an anticipated wind event in the next in the next 24 hours,” VanAusdall said. “We’re essentially pre-positioning for initial attack on any fire that could happen, whether it’s from this fire or another one.”
He also said first responders are currently in the best possible scenario to attack these fires as wind speeds increase.
“There are over 5,000 firefighters assigned to this fire,” VanAusdall said. “There are crews strategically positioned around the entire perimeter of this fire today.”