Austin, Texas fire chief accused of refusing to send rescue team to flood zone over $800K dispute

The Austin, Texas, fire chief is being accused of denying state requests to send rescuers to Kerrville days before the catastrophic flooding because of an $800,000 dispute with the state government.

“Highly trained swift water rescue teams” were requested by the state on July 2 and July 3. But Chief Joel G. Baker denied both requests, the union said, calling it “a dereliction of duty,” the Austin Firefighters Association said.

“Lives were very likely lost because of Chief Baker’s decision,” the union said.

The finger-pointing came after the capital city’s fire department issued a notice saying it wouldn’t deploy personnel outside of Austin because of a budget shortfall, including “something like $800,000 in outstanding reimbursements owed to AFD by the State of Texas,” according to KXAN-TV.

Firefighters union president Bob Nicks said Austin “had the best boat crews in the state, if not the nation.”

“We explicitly trained with San Antonio for response to the Hill Country because it’s in our backyard,” Nicks said. “So we have the resources, we have the training, we have the personnel. We are absolutely geared to doing in that area of work.”

Chief Baker, however, denied the union’s claims, telling KXAN he was informed of three requests for assistance on July 4.

A request for a dispatcher was denied, but the department did send rescue swimmers, according to KXAN.

Baker said he wanted to ensure Austin had the personnel it needed if the flash floods hit the city of 979,000. Seven people died from the flooding in Travis County, where Austin is located.

“I need to make sure that I have an adequate amount of resources within the city so I can respond for my mutual aid calls and my automatic aid calls around the city of Austin,” Baker said.

Baker told KXAN he believed his department did “absolutely” everything they could.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he was “disappointed” with Nicks for “politicizing” the situation. Watson said he spoke with Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd, who “characterized Austin’s response as ‘above and beyond.’”

Nicks told KXAN that personnel who were contacted by the state on July 2 had to turn down the request over the “standing order” from the department over the budget shortfall and outstanding payments.

Baker said he issued the pause on deployments due to “internal issues” over the state’s ability to reimburse the department, insisting that budget constraints had “nothing” to do with his decision making, according to KXAN.

“We had to work on our own internal issues, on how we get reimbursed. It was a collaborative effort between the state and Austin Fire Department and we have resolved those matters… I’m telling you and the viewers, it has nothing to do with budget challenges and issues,” said Baker.

Baker clarified that the memo about pausing deployment outside the city should have been clear that deployments would be considered “on a case-by-case basis.”

“So, when an emergency like this takes place, or something like this larger disaster takes place, then it’s not, ‘We’re not going to send anyone.’ We’re going to send them but let us evaluate what we’re sending,” he said.

But Nicks asserted that it took external pressure for the deployment to happen, according to KXAN.

“The notion that a department of our size can’t send a few boat crews is ludicrous,” Nicks said.

“We made a promise to go, and we said ‘No,’” he added.

The union held an “emergency” meeting Tuesday, voting unanimously to hold a vote of no confidence in Baker.