McKinney firefighters head southeast to clean up after hurricanes

McKINNEY, Texas - Firefighters from across North Texas are staging in South and East Texas awaiting the potential threats to the coast.

The Texas National Guard and the Red Cross have also mobilized.

Tropical Storm Marco may not have much of an impact, but there are concerns about Tropical Storm Laura once it strengthens into a hurricane.                     

For months now, many firefighters across North Texas have been handling every call as if the person they’re responding to has COVID-19.

Departments have sent crews to California to help fight fires. Now, they’re deploying to South Texas as we watch and wait for Marco and Laura.

McKinney Fire EMS Chief Charlie Skaggs spoke with FOX 4, as he calls it, the middle of nowhere near San Antonio, staging in the Texas heat.

“So these are tents that they have set up basically to help us stay cool out here because it’s hot and we’re in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

Skaggs is one of dozens of firefighter paramedics who have headed down south over the weekend from departments across North Texas.

They’re ready to react, especially if Tropical Storm Laura, which is expected to get much stronger in the Gulf of Mexico this week, takes aim at Texas.

Three years ago during Hurricane Harvey, McKinney firefighters were among the crews assigned to help control the Arkema plant explosion in Crosby. Flooding from the storm disabled the refrigeration system, causing the ignition.

For now, Skaggs remains at the command post while his fellow firefighters deployed Monday to Beaumont and soon will also deploy to Texas City.

Hurricane and storm surge watches have already been issued for parts of the East Texas coast ahead of Laura’s expected landfall.

“It could be nothing, and we’ll turn around and come back home, which we always hope for,” Skaggs said. “But it could turn into something a little more drastic, and then we’ll have to stick around and however long it takes to finish the mission.”

Sachse, Richardson, Fort Worth and Dallas are among those who have also sent units. Dallas sent two units to Huntsville Sunday that have since been relocated to New Braunfels. And early Monday, Dallas sent 13 more firefighters to Huntsville as well as one to College Station.

“It’s always a great way to help the people around you,” Skaggs said.

The American Red Cross North Texas also preparing to send help, saying it has more than 400 trained disaster workers on standby.