Help that was never deployed for the flood in Texas...

[milestogo]

Link to tweet

Austin firefighters union to hold no-confidence vote, accuses chief of delaying aid to Kerrville

The Austin firefighters union said Tuesday it will hold a vote of no confidence in the fire chief this week, accusing him of preventing crews from being deployed ahead of historic flooding that killed over 100 people in Kerr County. Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, said questions about deployment came in on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of potential flooding. The department didn't deploy firefighters until after the Guadalupe River surged early Friday.

"Our guys sat on their asses while they're hearing people [are] dying," Nicks said Monday. City Manager T.C. Broadnax said in a statement Tuesday he found it "disappointing" that the union would make this allegation amid recovery efforts and that he was "committed to listening and working with both the Chief and the Fire Association."

Mayor Kirk Watson echoed that support, saying he believed the AFA "shouldn't be politicizing this horrible loss." In an interview with KUT News on Tuesday, Chief Joel Baker said he had "not seen any evidence" of any request ahead of the flooding — only the formal request when the floods hit.

"I'm not aware of any requests coming in on the 2nd and 3rd," he said. "I have not seen any documentation of any informal requests. ... I'm not saying an informal request did not come in. I'm just saying I'm not aware of who within the organization received [one]." Nicks said the informal requests weren't honored because of an internal cost-saving policy to not respond to emergency service requests until the end of the fiscal year.