Texas Task Force 1, abbreviated TX-TF1, is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Texas and is sponsored by the state.[1] It consists of a Type I and a Type III Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team as well as a Water Rescue Task Force. Organized in 1997, it is made up of responders from over 60 jurisdictions across Texas and has over 450 active members. Every month, one team is on stand-up, one team is on stand-by, and one team is on stand-down. The stand-up team must be ready 24 hours a day to be mobilized and deployed within four hours. Texas Task Force 1 is also one of the 28 teams that form the FEMA National Urban Search and Rescue System, and as such it is in rotation for deploying to national disasters and incidents of national significance. Texas Task Force 1 joined the FEMA National US&R System in June 2001.[2]
Texas Task Force 1 members are trained as specialists as well as cross-trained in other jobs on the task force. Members are required to complete over 90 hours of training per year, attend regional training four times a year and attend an annual full-scale exercise in Disaster City. Texas Task Force 1 members bring a variety of full-time job skills to the task force. Firefighters, doctors, nurses, structural engineers, and canine handlers, among others all comprise Texas Task Force 1. Designed to be logistically self-sufficient for the first 72 hours of operation, the task force is able to function for up to 10 days under remote and austere conditions.
Sponsored by the Texas Engineering Extension Service and headquartered in College Station, Texas, Texas Task Force 1 has more than 450 highly trained members from 60 organizations throughout Texas. The team maintains a $5 million equipment cache of more than 12,000 items weighing in excess of 50,000 pounds.[3] Disaster City in College Station, Texas is the home of Texas Task Force 1 training.