This weekend, TEXSAR members Shawn Hohnstreiter and John Michael Gibbs completed the final processes in gaining apprentice instructor status for vertical rope rescue and flood and swiftwater rescue. The new instructors join TEXSAR member and instructor Mark Baumann as the training cadre for TEXSAR’s vertical rescue team and flood and swiftwater rescue team. Regarding the achievement, Instructor Hohnstreiter said, “This represents the growth of our search and rescue team and our commitment to the community. We can be sure our technical...
At the request of the Central Texas Community Emergency Response Team Coordinator TEXSAR’s CERT trainers met with the Village of Point Venture Emergency Management team and interested citizens on Wednesday evening, May 30. Point Venture is launching their first Community Emergency Response Team training and the meeting was to provide information about the program and how TEXSAR would deliver the training and support the program. City officials will begin scheduling the classes and we will provide the training and CERT program management support. Great City leadership, hospitality and...
On Saturday morning, May 19th, TEXSAR team members headed to New Braunfels to participate in a training “play day” with Wesley Meyers of Rescue Training International (RTI). The morning started at a heavily canopied canyon preserve where TEXSAR members, along with members from TMAR and first responders from across Texas, were provided with an overview of Land Search and Rescue Concepts and Lost Person Behavior Patterns. Participants then practiced and refined their line search and echo location skills. Next was...
Beginning at 4:20 am Wednesday May 16, 2012 our team began preparing to assist the Killeen Police Department (KPD) with a search for a missing 8 yr old boy. The team and our friends responded quickly. Team member Matt Boettner lives in Killeen and was at the KPD Headquarters before 8 am discussing the case with the lead detective. Our Operations and Planning units began running lost person behavior and likely find area identification based on the information we had. The Logistics unit began planning for required equipment and...
TEXSAR is honored to have been selected for study by two University of Texas classes from the Red McCombs Business School. These classes, one a Team-based Communication class and the other a Business Communication class, studied the history and the future goals of our organization. The classes, each split into three to five person teams, produced reports and guidance on topics such as fundraising, grant applications, philanthropic foundations, website improvements, the use of social media and relationship building and maintenance. These students...
On Thursday evening May 03, 2012 TEXSAR team members were invited to speak to the Pflugerville Citizens on Patrol volunteer group. The folks are also CERT team members. We spoke with them about personal and family preparedness and also discussed ways that TEXSAR could assist them to train a new CERT class for the Pflugerville Police Department. It was a great opportunity to share ideas and meet the Pflugerville team members. ...
Four of our members completed the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train the Trainer course this week held by the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and FEMA. This new training capability allows TEXSAR to assist rural jurisdictions and volunteer fire departments as well as “Teen Cert” programs in area high schools to create, train and maintain CERT programs that will provide them with “force multipliers” to respond to large incidents and assist with...
TEXSAR has a new “Home” for meetings and training! The Austin Firefighters Association (AFA) has graciously invited us to hold our meetings in the AFA Union Hall located at 7537 Cameron Road, Austin, Texas 78752. We will adjust our meeting schedule to not conflict with their meetings and are very much looking forward to having the use of this great facility! ...
FIREWISE assessments by our members that have been certified by the Texas Forest Service are continuing, with a very large request from a community located near Lake Austin. We will be working with the Texas Forest Service to get this important safety work done in the near future. ...
This weekend TEXSAR aided in training the Texas State Guard Maritime Regiment critical land search and rescue skills at Camp Swift in Bastrop County. Maritime regiment trains for rescues: kxan.com ...
