WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Governor Greg Abbott visited the Cameron Park neighborhood on Wednesday to meet with local first responders about a new training program designed to help prepare for wildfires and other threats across Texas.
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"Training is the foundation for success," Gov. Abbott said.
Gov. Abbott met with local first responders in Cameron Park to celebrate the Texas Firefighter Wildland Urban Interface "Train the Trainer" program.
"It's teaching firefighters new techniques using existing equipment they have," said one firefighter.
The goal of the training is to save more homes and protect residential areas from potential threats.
"For us to have access to a training like this, it's just unbelievable because this is literally the first time it's happened in the state, much less all 50 states," said Waco Fire Department Deputy Chief Philip Burnett.
Burnett said this training is the first of its kind in the country.
"We got two seats out of a class of 30, and so there are firefighters all over the state of Texas that are doing the same training and what we're going to do is these guys are learning, so they can teach other departments throughout the state," Burnett said.
During the press conference, Gov. Abbott talked about the devastating flooding in Kerr County this summer and how training helped firefighters save lives.
"Too many lives were lost, but with that said, we saw so many lives saved," Gov. Abbott said.
"It just goes to show, as you're going through a training process, whether it be for firefighting or anything else, you don't know the day or the hour you're going to be called upon to employ that training," Gov. Abbott said.
Gov. Abbott also referenced the state's largest wildfires in the Panhandle last year that prompted more preparedness for these situations.
"We used that information to plug it into the legislation that we've worked on this past session to make sure that the state is going to be far more effective than ever before at being able to respond to fires," Gov. Abbott said.
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