‘Somebody’s got to do it’: Bay Area rescue crews deployed to Texas

(KRON) — Bay Area crews are in Texas to assist with search and rescue operations as more than 160 people are still missing following deadly flash flooding.

Retired Menlo Park Fire Department Chief Harold Schapelhouman says K-9s who just got back from helping at the fireworks explosion in Yolo County are now in Texas.

He says they are extremely helpful in these kinds of massive search and recovery efforts — and there are not that many of them across the country.

“In terms of natural disasters, this is probably one of the worst, in terms of kids involved,” says Schapelhouman.

Search and rescue crews are working around the clock in Central Texas, digging through rubble to find people missing from the catastrophic flash flooding. California is sending 18 team members to assist with the gargantuan task.

“There is a clock that is ticking in terms [of] the liable of the search window if you will,” adds Schapelhouman.

Schapelhouman is one of the founding members of California Task Force 3 (CA-TF3), the highly skilled search and rescue team that’s been responding to natural disasters for more than 30 years.

The team seen flying out Tuesday afternoon includes multiple people and K-9s from Menlo Park Fire and Mountain View Fire.

“These animals are amazing at what they can do but in the end it’s all about covering an area once, if not twice, to make sure that either no one is there or that you found everybody — that’s the key element to this whole thing.”

Oakland Fire Department’s Assistant Chief Sean Laffan is also in Texas.

“He’s someone who is highly experienced, highly trained, nationally recognized for his work around urban search & rescue work,” says Oakland Fire Department Public Information Officer Michael Hunt. “He’s gone there to be a safety officer for teams that are being deployed to this devastating flood.”

Schapelhouman explains what crews will be up against in this massive operation.

“We are at that point where the water is gone, it still may be muddy so people can mobile,” says Schapelhouman. “They have gridded it. Basically, you want to map it out. You don’t want to duplicate search area.”

He says while it’s an emotionally taxing job for these crews, it’s one that is crucial to the road to recovery.

“It’s important because it’s finding people that are unaccounted for… For their remains. Allows families to get closure, which I think is important,” says Schapelhouman. “It’s tough, it’s always tough to be at one of these events. It’s one of those things you never want to go to but it’s what we do, and somebody’s got to do it.”

There is potential for additional flooding in the Texas search area. California Governor Gavin Newsom could send additional resources as needed.