Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks will hold a press conference today to discuss the removal of Fire Chief Joel Baker from his position. Nicks told the Austin Monitor that Baker issued a standing order on June 6 that prevented Austin firefighters from deploying to assist those working to rescue people during the catastrophic 4th of July flooding in Central Texas.
Nicks said he plans to set up a vote among firefighters expressing no confidence in Baker and urging his removal. He expects the vote to be held online from July 9-11. Nicks explained that Baker had “a standing order that we would not be deployed,” starting on June 6. “We had active boat crews ready to go.” He said AFD was contacted for help when flooding seemed possible and firefighters could have been on the scene on July 3, before the catastrophe occurred.
“We are disgusted with our fire chief, he needs to be held accountable and fired for his disgraceful dereliction of duty,” Nicks wrote on Facebook.
Chief Baker told the Austin Monitor via email that the department must prioritize how to use its resources and strike a balance between local needs and others’ requests.
“In an effort to strike that balance, AFD deployed three rescue swimmers on Friday, July 4 to serve with the Texas Task Force 1 helicopter search and rescue team (HSART) to perform water rescues in San Angelo, Kerrville and Seguin. On Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6, two crews, eight total fire personnel, and an AFD boat, were assigned to assist ESD 1 with search efforts at Cow Creek and Big Sandy Creek. An additional six personnel were deployed today, at approximately 9 a.m., to augment Texas Task Force 1 search and rescue efforts in the area. AFD is a strong public safety partner in our region,” Baker wrote. “We will continue to live up to that reputation while maintaining adequate resources for those we serve in our City and neighboring communities.”
Nicks wrote: “It brings the Austin Firefighters no pleasure to report to the community that The Austin Fire Chief denied the deployment of Austin firefighters to Kerrville until very late into the event (so today!), with the exception of only 3 AFD rescue swimmers who helped staff helo teams (which still were NOT deployed until the afternoon of the 4th).
“The Austin Firefighter special operations teams are specially trained for hill country swift water rescue and are some of best, if not the best, swift water boat teams in the State of Texas,” he continued.
“It is absolutely outrageous that the Austin fire chief, Joel G Baker, would not allow highly trained Firefighters from Austin to respond to Kerrville,” Nicks wrote. He concluded that “LIVES WERE LIKEY LOST BECAUSE OF CHIEF BAKERS DECISION!”
Nicks said Baker did not deploy teams to Kerrville when he could have because he did not understand that the city would be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in helping flood victims outside the city. Nicks wrote on Facebook, “I explained the reimbursement process to Chief Baker last week and he failed to understand this very simple concept.”
Nicks has asked for public support. He wrote, “The Austin Firefighters commit to being transparent to the community about this process to remove our fire chief and hold all of those accountable that were part of this atrocity.”
“The firefighters hope we have your support,” Nicks said. “It’s going to get ugly.”
He continued, “I can’t possibly express to you how outraged and sickened that the firefighters are that we were not allowed to do the job. The job that we have trained so hard and long to do during the historic floods just occurred in Kerrville…we could’ve made a difference and we were forced to stand down and lives were lost.”
A June 6 email probably explains Baker’s reluctance, at least in part, to send out teams from AFD. That email from Andre Jordan, states “AFD has suspended deployments, both TEEX (Fire Training Academy) and TIFMAS (Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System), until October 1. This does not include the boat team that is currently deployed.
“The City is facing a budget crisis, and there is currently something like $800,000 in outstanding reimbursements owed to AFD by the State of Texas. The City wants to make sure this money is reimbursed before the end of the fiscal year, and does not want to be in a situation where additional money is expended on deployments and is not recouped before the end of the fiscal year.”
Jordan is listed online as Division Chief, Special Operations & Homeland Security at the City of Austin.
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