Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Friends of TEXSAR, Hurricane Harvey was the costliest disaster to ever strike the United States, bringing with it record flooding and catastrophic winds along the Texas coastline. Texas Search and Rescue answered the call from agencies all across Texas, providing more than 700 volunteer hours by 85 members who rescued over 700 people and pets from Harvey floodwaters. Immediately following Hurricane Harvey, the 2nd annual TEXSAR Search Party fundraiser took place on September 30th where TEXSAR members and supporters...
On the evening of Sunday, July 13, 2014, several TEXSAR members were deployed to assist the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Travis County Search and Rescue, and Alamo Area Search and Rescue in the search for Antonio Perea. Mr. Perea left his residence in southeast Travis County early in the morning that Sunday. Due to high temperatures and his known medical issues multiple search assets were enlisted to help in the effort. These assets included search personnel, search management personnel, K9’s, and...
The TEXSAR team was once again called out to Big Bend country in mid-June. This time we were asked to support an on-going investigation by the Brewster County Sheriff’s office and the Social Security Administration. This deployment demonstrated TEXSAR’s agility by deploying personnel from numerous locations across Texas. Personnel in the search came from Midland, San Antonio, Austin, and Hearn meeting up in the west Texas town of Terlingua. The advance team arrived mid-afternoon which allowed them to link...
On the evening on May 27, 2014 TEXSAR received a request for assistance in searching for a three-year-old girl who had gone missing while playing in a flooded creek near her home in Caldwell County. Within two hours of the initial call, more than two-dozen TEXSAR members and canines were on site searching the swollen creek and the surrounding areas for the missing child. After 6 hours of searching, the TEXSAR Swiftwater Rescue and Canine teams were able to locate and...
On the evening of Saturday, April 26, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office received reports that a man had gone missing when his canoe overturned on Lake Travis. STARFlight rescue swimmers were able to locate the canoe but were unable to locate the victim. On the morning of Sunday, April 27, the Sheriff’s Office made the call to TEXSAR to request the assistance of our canine assets. While en route to the scene, however, TEXSAR received a call that the body of...
“On Saturday February 22, 2014 at approximately 2330 hours, a boater in the vicinity of Hatter Cove in Lake Travis observed a fisherman on a dock fall into the water.” A search effort was immediately launched, led by the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. Unfortunately, two days of underwater searching, hampered by low water temperatures, poor visibility, and numerous in-water obstacles, yielded no results. Sheriff Deputies decided to try a different approach and contacted TEXSAR to request the service of our...
From the Caldwell County Office of Emergency Management: The Caldwell County Commissioners Court recognized Texas Search and Rescue “TEXSAR” for their outstanding work during the Halloween Floods. TEXSAR volunteers and their affiliates supported the search and recovery effort within the county. The Caldwell County Office of Emergency Management applauds TEXSAR on their significant contributions and congratulates them for this accomplishment. ...
On Saturday, January 25, 2014, TEXSAR assisted law enforcement during the search for Leanne Hecht Bearden, 33, who had been missing since the previous Friday when she walked away from a residence in Garden Ridge, TX. Working closely with Garden Ridge Police Department, Comal County Sheriff’s Office, Texas DPS, and the Texas Rangers, TEXSAR planned and conducted operations throughout the day that involved over 150 people from 18 agencies and Search and Rescue teams from across the state and...
Caldwell County Search On December 12th, 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry formally requested a Presidential disaster declaration for the State of Texas. This request was made as a result of massive flooding which occurred from October 31st to November 16th, 2013. A state disaster declaration was also made on December 12th. TEXSAR was specifically called out in the disaster declaration for its search and rescue, incident management, resource coordination, and provision of technical specialists during the Caldwell county search phase...
TEXSAR assisted as requested by Caldwell County OEM for a missing person search near Polonia Road on Tuesday November 12, 2013. The person had gone missing during the October 31, 2013 flood event. DPS divers recovered the vehicle on Monday November 11, 2013. Working with Alamo Area SAR and Chisholm Trail VFD, TEXSAR located and recovered the missing person just before noon. The technical water recovery took two hours to complete and all personnel on scene exhibited strong skills. TEXSAR is appreciative...
