A statement last night from the Austin Firefighters Association has many in Texas confused as to why he wouldn't want to help during the Central Texas Floods.

Austin Firefighters Association's Statement on Being Denied for Rescue Effort

Across the state of Texas, many have made their way to the Kerrville area to help in rescue attempts. Sadly as of this morning, 105 lives have been lost due to the flooding that happened over the weekend. The Austin Firefighters Association is speaking out since they were denied by their Fire Chief to go help before the flooding began.

Austin Firefighters Association Says Help Was Requested on July 2nd

You can read the statement in full above from the association. They claim requests were coming in as early as July 2nd due to the potential storm moving into the area. Fire Chief Joel Baker denied the request. July 3rd, request for more manpower, denied again. It would not be until July 4th, after the floodwaters were moved in, that Fire Chief Baker would officially deploy firefighters to the area.

Joel Baker Has Been the Austin Fire Chief Since 2018

This morning the Austin Firefighters Association gave a vote in no confidence in having Baker remain as the Austin Fire Chief. According to the Austin American Statesmen, Baker has no intention of stepping down from his position. “The challenge is, if I don’t send as many people as the union wants me to in a situation like this, we have a problem,” Baker said. “I’m also obligated to the citizens of Austin. I have to make sure I balance the resources for deployment with what we need locally."

The Austin Firefighters Association claims they had enough depth to be able to handle both Austin and Kerrville. We will wait and see what happens next week over in Austin to the future of their Fire Chief.