Menlo Fire sends team to Texas for grisly task of finding human remains
On Tuesday evening, seven members of California Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Force 3 (CA-TF3), sponsored by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, boarded a United Airlines Flight and headed to Texas.
The small group, designated as a Recovery Mission Ready Package (MRP), included two highly trained Canines (K9’s) specializing in Human Remains Detection (HRD).
Retired Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman who was a founding member of the team said: “It can take several years for these specially selected and trained dogs to become HRD certified and unfortunately many do not pass all the tests. The high standard and rigorous regular training demands mean that nationwide there are less than 200 of these certified teams.”
The K9 HRD MRP consists of a Task Force Leader, Search Team Manager, Search/Logistics Specialist and two Canine Search Specialists with their dogs.
On Wednesday, Task Force 3 personnel secured ground transportation and some needed equipment from other dog handlers at Set Point. They then drove to the incident base camp located in Kerrville, Texas, where they were given an incident briefing and update.
Today, Thursday, California Task Force 3 members started their rotation into the field. Nearly a week after this flooding disaster started, over 121 victims have died with 160 people still reported as missing.
The weather also continues to be a concern. Warm temperatures and high humidity help to further challenge these responders and their animals.
Task Force Leader and Battalion Chief Mike Stahl with the Menlo Park Fire District said: “There is still a large stretch of river to search and by the number of resources that arrived today, it became evident this will be an extended operation to help provide closure to all the families affected”.
The team has joined other MRP HRD Task Forces members from California that include Los Angeles County Fire (CA-TF2), Orange County Fire Authority (CA-TF5) and Riverside City Fire (CA-TF3).
All teams were deployed as part of an Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreement (EMAC) between the State of Texas and the California’s Governors Office of Emergency Services (Cal-OES).
While this is extremely difficult and heartbreaking work, CA-TF3 members have been bringing closure to families in this manner since their first K9 HRD deployment in 2003.
In February 2003, 13 members of CA-TF3 that included eight personnel with five canines, responded to Texas for the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster. Over the next week, they helped find and recover seven astronauts.
After the Columbia disaster, FEMA eventually adopted HRD standards and fully embraced this added capability. Since then, Task Force 3 has responded to emergency operations at the 2010 San Bruno PG&E Gas Main Explosion; 2018 Camp Fire in the City of Paradise; 2020 North Complex Fire in Butte County; 2025 Palisades Fire; and most recently, the Fireworks explosion in Yolo County in the unincorporated area of Esparto.
