(Reuters) – The mayday call went out near midnight to all members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department organizing rescue operations in the outskirts of Houston. There was a new emergency: Four of their own in peril.
On a suburban street transformed into a rushing waterway by Tropical Storm Harvey, a firefighter heading out to save people stranded by the storm fell into floodwaters as he was boarding a boat.
The firefighters turned all their attention to rescuing their fellow.
Matt Perkins, a 21-year veteran of the fire department of Cy-Fair, short for Cypress-Fairbanks, listened intently to the progress from the mini-command post set up in his truck at a gas station.
“Those are my guys out there. I want to make sure they are OK,” he said as he listened to his radio.
“Command Boat 21, do you need a helicopter at your location?” a radio dispatcher said.
A garbled response.
“We can’t understand your response,” the dispatcher responded. “Your mic is wet.”
Hearing no response, the call became more urgent: “Repeat. Do you need a helicopter at your location?”
Finally the radio crackled back to life: “We are extracted. The boat is tied to a tree. We are walking out with the military.”
