Salina First Responders Texas Bound

A number of emergency response professionals from Kansas have departed for the Gulf Coast to assist local authorities with search and rescue operations. Among them are five Salina Firefighters and two Saline County Sheriff Deputies.

The deployments were coordinated by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which is the administrative agency for the Kansas Search and Rescue Response System and is responsible for directing the regional teams and the Kansas Division of Emergency Management through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a multistate agreement that facilitates emergency assistance between states during major disasters.

Personnel who deployed include:

Northeast Region Kansas Task Force 2 — Manhattan Fire Department (four); Mission Township Fire Department (five)
Kansas City Metro Region Kansas Task Force 3 – Shawnee Fire Department (five)
Southeast Region Kansas Task Force 4 — Chanute Fire Department (two)
South Central Region Kansas Task Force 5 — Sedgwick County Fire Department (four); Derby Fire Department (four); Winfield Fire Department (three)
North Central Region Kansas Task Force 8 — Salina Fire Department (five); Saline County Sheriff’s Office (two)
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism – 14
Office of the State Fire Marshal – one
Hutchinson Fire Department – one
South Hutchinson Police – one
Neodesha Fire Department – one
Parsons Fire Department – one
Pittsburg Fire Department – one

In addition, the 184th Air Wing in Wichita has activated 10 Airmen to provide visual information via satellites for leaders on the ground to get a bigger picture of the current situation.