Texas Task Force 1 returns from Florida

Texas Task Force 1 unloaded their equipment in College Station, Thursday.

"We were predeployed to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and we staged there until the hurricane came on shore in Florida," said Chuck Jones, Texas Task Force 1 Operations Chief.

Once the hurricane passed, the 80 team members went right to work. Jones said the team would wake up at 5 a.m. and head out to the field by 6:30, spending their days walking more than 14 miles as part of their urban search and rescue mission.

The team was assigned to search in some rural areas.

"For many of those citizens in those rural areas, we were the very first people that had seen them after the storm," said Jones.

Jones said their job was to make sure the residents were accounted for.

"We can certainly get their information and pass that on to the state officials of who it is, where they're located, and what their needs are," said Jones.

It's the major duty at hand that keeps the members dedicated to working for TX-TF1.

"These people have been through probably the worst day of their life, and that's the reason we're all doing this. It's because when someone has the worse day of their life, we want to be there to help put that back together," said Jones.