EL PASO -- El Paso firefighters who are part of the El Paso All Hazards Incident Management Team have been deployed to the Texas Gulf Coast to assist with relief in the wake of tropical storm Dolly.
Five Fire Department personnel -- Lt. Danny Medrano, Chief Ralph Johnson, Chief John Davis, Chief Mike Moss and Chief Calvin Shanks -- left Monday for South Texas. They are expected to remain there providing emergency management assistance through July 31.
"What we're doing is we're helping out Cameron County with points of distribution for ice and water and resource allocation," Medrano said in a telephone interview from nearby Weslaco as emergency responders prepared for the storm's aftermath. "We'll get a better idea in the next couple of days after they do a damage assessment."
Medrano said Wednesday that power in the area was interrupted for several hours as the hurricane passed through. Thousands of people voluntarily evacuated ahead of the storm's landfall.
Three volunteers with the American Red Cross of El Paso headed to South Texas on Tuesday to help with disaster relief, and six others were on standby.
An all-hazards incident management team can handle major emergencies such as earthquakes or flooding, or events where thousands of people are expected.
Darren Meritz may be reached at dmeritz@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127.