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LISBON - The Advanced Training Group Worldwide (ATG) is sending people to Houston for search and rescue efforts.
Adam Newbold, director of ATG, said the group of seven are all members of the ATG Tactical Association, which is a club that is affiliated with the ATG and consists of skilled former or current law enforcement, safety or military officials.
ATG is headquartered in Lisbon, and Newbold said the association is currently at 1,000 members.
"They train with us extensively and are very involved in community outreach. They help each other and help others," he said.
Of the seven who volunteered to conduct search and rescue efforts in Houston as a result of Hurricane Harvey, two are already there. The remaining five will be leaving soon.
The group consists of Tim McCrattic, Dave Young, Mike Giambroni, Ben Schreffler, Josh Kupka, Toni Lawrence and David Bass.
All seven will remain there until at least after Labor Day, Newbold said.
While there, the group will coordinate with Houston's local Emergency Management Agency team and other local authorities, including the National Guard, fire departments, and Shell Oil and Gas.
Newbold said the group is solely focused on search and rescue, and not relief and rebuilding efforts at this point.
"We are not set up at this point in time for the logistics to transport all that down there," he said.
He added that disaster response is different from that of Hurricane Katrina in that the water is continuing to move, continuing to rise, and people are still trapped.
"There are many people still trapped without food, without healthy drinking water, and with their lives in danger because the water continues to rise as some of the levies have broken now, and they are also draining levies into other areas to let the water recede from certain areas," he said.
He also said that while the group is not necessarily large, all are highly skilled with formal military training and excellent emergency management and organizational skills.
They all are also legally armed, he added, noting that some people in the disaster area are actually shooting at those involved in rescue efforts.
"It's still very dangerous down there," he said.
There is a GoFundMe page set up to cover the group's expenses, since it is a civilian trip through the association.
The page is named the ATG Members in Need Fund and Newbold said 100 percent of the funds go to the search and rescue efforts.
The ATG Worldwide did commit a portion of funding as well and any leftover funding from the public donations that is not used will be donated to someone in Houston, he said.
"We expect that we will have more groups going down for different reasons as the efforts will turn into more relief and rebuild type efforts," he added.
kwhite@mojonews.com