Fire Chief Dave McCoy and K-9 Solace will be accompanied by Assistant Fire Chief Shayne Hamilton, Lt. Randy Schneider and Firefighter Wesley Baxter.

The team which plans to make the 22-hour, 1,100-mile drive straight through left late Wednesday afternoon with plans to be in position to help late Thursday.

According to McCoy, the effort is self-funded, and they plan to stay three to four days or until their resources run out.

The rescue team was activated by the Kerrville Command Operations for Water Rescue and K-9 Cadaver Team to assist at 7:11 p.m. Tuesday night and spent most of the night and all of Wednesday preparing for the trip.

A Calcutta Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) truck is packed with rescue gear as members of the search and rescue team prepare to leave for Kerrville, Texas.

They are traveling light on this trip, taking only K-9 Solace and their own rescue equipment packs needed for the search.

Upon their arrival in Kerr County, they will meet with the operations command and the Navy Seals they are teaming with. McCoy said they are being paired with a Navy Seals teams that requested a cadaver dog. The team once paired plans to hit the ground searching immediately.

Local Diver UCI (Underwater Criminal Investigator Diver) Dale Hammon of East Liverpool left Tuesday morning for Texas to aid in underwater search and recovery. He took his nephew Nate Payne of Struthers with him, and they picked up more divers from the Columbus area on their way.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has sent 20 troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Mobile Field Force, after speaking to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer support from Ohio, a media release said.

“Our hearts go out to everyone in Texas who is suffering through such an unthinkable tragedy,” DeWine said. “By sending in our teams from Ohio, we can support recovery work and give some relief to the Texas first responders who have been working nearly non-stop for several days straight.”

In addition to the troopers, DeWine is also sending a team of natural resource officers and four K-9s trained in search, rescue and recovery from ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources).

The troopers and ODNR officers are expected to spend a week helping with recovery efforts.