News

Kansas Game Wardens deploy to aid hurricane victims

At 1:30 a.m., August 31, a 14-member team of Kansas game wardens from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) departed Wichita for Texas to assist with search and rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The game wardens come from around the state. The team will use seven boats consisting of four flat-bottom jon boats, two enclosed rescue air boats and one open air boat, as well as their mobile command trailer. The wardens will report to College Station, Texas to receive their working assignments.

Kansas game wardens train for and are often called upon to help with water search, rescue or recovery operations on Kansas lakes and rivers. The air boats and jon boats can enter waters that are often too shallow for conventional watercraft.

The game wardens join a number of other state, county and city emergency responders from central and eastern Kansas being deployed to Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. As reported by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, their objectives will be to search for and rescue individuals, provide basic life support (BLS) medical care, transport people and animals to the nearest location for secondary air or land transport, provide shore-based and boat-based water rescue, provide animal rescues, and support helicopter and urban search and rescue in water environments.