Two Oklahoma swift-water rescue teams headed for New Mexico on Sunday morning, sent by Gov. Kevin Stitt to help communities dealing with intense flooding. The 12-member Oklahoma Task Force 1 deployment, drawn from crews in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, is expected to remain in New Mexico for up to six days.
Stitt announced that the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management was dispatching the teams after New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management formally requested the help, according to KOCO. “These Task Force 1 teams have the training, experience and equipment to help communities respond when they need it most,” Stitt said, adding that Oklahoma will keep working with New Mexico and its partners through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact to provide support as long as needed.
Annie Mack Vest said the Oklahoma Task Force 1 teams are trained and equipped for specialized rescue operations, underscoring why the state is repeatedly tapped when flooding overwhelms neighboring communities. The mission is being carried out under EMAC, the interstate framework that lets states share personnel, equipment and resources across state lines. Under that compact, the requesting state directs the mission while the assisting state, in this case Oklahoma, maintains accountability for its deployed resources, according to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
A Well-Worn Mutual Aid Pipeline
EMAC has served as the backbone of the country’s mutual-aid system since it was ratified and signed into federal law in 1996 under Public Law 104-321, per the compact’s own account of its history. It’s described as an all-hazards, all-disciplines system that lets states send personnel, equipment and commodities to help with response and recovery once a governor has declared an emergency or disaster…