APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – First responders from Green Bay, Neenah-Menasha, and Appleton recently spent about two weeks in central Texas helping out after the devastating flooding on the Fourth of July.
On Thursday afternoon, Local 5 News spoke with an Appleton firefighter who was part of the state’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (known as Wisconsin Task Force 1). It’s a group of first responders who have been highly trained in search and rescue in all different types of environments.
They get calls to assists when major disasters happen throughout the country.
“It wasn’t lost on us that we weren’t going down there (to Texas) for rescue work, the rescues that were going to be made had already been completed by those who were a lot closer than us,” said Appleton firefighter Joe Kozikowski. “This was a recovery effort and there was a lot of children who were lost.”
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Kozikowski told Local 5 News he’s been part of Wisconsin Task Force 1 for about eight years. Even though he knew that the trip to Texas to help out would be difficult physically, mentally, and emotionally, he said it was important for him to come down and help in any way he could.
Twenty one Wisconsin first responders were part of the Wisconsin Task Force 1 crew that went down to Texas. They were there for about two weeks.
“Potential impact to ourselves emotionally, everybody was well aware of that,” said Kozikowski. “But it was more important to try to bring some closure to some families who were still looking for their loved ones. You have to have the ability to stay detached and get the work done. Focus on the training and focus on your team.”
The task force assisted in recovery missions both on land and in the water throughout the flood zone in central Texas. Kozikowski said it was some of the worst damage he’s ever seen, but despite everything that happened all the people impacted by the tragedy were so kind and gracious.
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“The fact that we were able to deploy to Texas and successfully complete a large amount of missions and then pull a lot of improvements from this,” he said. “Unfortunately things like this can happen in Wisconsin and we’re that much more prepared.”
For more information about Wisconsin Task Force 1 and their trip to Texas, please click here.
