As a winter storm pushed through Fort Worth yesterday, firefighters and the city’s HOPE Team fanned out across a large homeless encampment on the east side of downtown, rushing to get people out of the cold. Outreach teams put roughly 150 people onto buses headed for shelter and helped reunite about 60 others with family or friends who chose not to go into the shelter system. Volunteers and staff handed out more than 300 blankets, gloves, and hand warmers, and crews carried some people up a steep embankment to reach transport vehicles. Firefighters also stabilized and transported a man who was having seizures consistent with hypothermia.
City Post Says Teams Returned to East 9th
In a post on the City of Fort Worth’s X account, officials said the HOPE Team resumed operations Sunday at a large encampment off East 9th Street and helped carry the remaining occupants into shelter. According to the post, outreach workers had already visited the camp the day before to offer transportation, then returned when conditions worsened. City officials publicly thanked Fort Worth Fire for assisting with transport and medical stabilization.
The fine people of @FortWorthFire are prime examples of what fire responders should be! Thank you to all involvedđź’™ https://t.co/ZbpcrPXTco
— City of Fort Worth (@CityofFortWorth) January 26, 2026
How the HOPE Team Works
The HOPE Team pairs firefighters, police and mental health partners to prioritize shelter and service connections over arrests, according to the City of Fort Worth. Formed in 2019, the unit is designed to meet people where they are and link them with housing and care rather than defaulting to enforcement.
On-the-Ground Relief During the Cold Snap
According to the city post, outreach teams made more than 300 contacts during the storm and distributed over 300 blankets, gloves and hand warmers before loading roughly 150 people onto buses for shelter. Workers carried several people up a steep embankment where footwear had become soaked and frozen overnight, and four individuals were reported without shoes. Fort Worth Fire Department Engine 1 and a city ambulance stabilized a man who had active seizures consistent with hypothermia and transported him to a hospital for advanced care, the post from City of Fort Worth added.
Why Outreach Matters
Street-level outreach like this is a frontline response when severe weather hits people living outdoors, and the city tracks unsheltered homelessness through its annual City of Fort Worth Point-in-Time count. Local reporting has noted that HOPE’s mixed-team model, which pairs first responders with mental health partners, is designed to reduce harm and connect people to services, as described by Fort Worth Report…