COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Members of TEEX gathered Wednesday at Kyle Field to practice rappelling training when it comes to saving victims from dangerous situations. It was a chance for training in large scale disasters.
Luis Cuevas said he's spent most of his life knowing he wanted to save people. He became a firefighter after college in Caracas, Venezuela and now serves as an instructor for TEEX.
Cuevas said it all started when he saw the service of others firsthand. "I started training with the military in rappelling and saw operations and I just got a love for helping other people and being useful for my community, being a functional citizen," he said.
Cuevas helped lead a class of emergency responders on how best to save a victim in a high-stakes situation. He said it could happen anywhere and anytime, which is why the instructor taught Wednesday's lesson across Kyle Field at A&M.
"With a victim, we need to place a team in there or K9's in there to be able to do any work and we span (the ropes) long distance get somebody down there, set them down, then bring them up," Cuevas said.
Students from all over got to get in on the action. Shannon Mauras said she's a rookie on the College Station Fire Department who is learning new skills from today's lesson. "We have two lines for the rescuer to glide across and then we also have some tag lines to pull their asset," she said.
For others from farter areas like Wallag Haimgoun from Africa. They're keeping the meaning behind their mission tied to them as they continue to do their work.
"It's like one job that I can feel like I'm doing something great to help people," he said.
Cuevas said he's happy to make TEEX'S name known all-over so that others considering taking on the classes or even becoming an instructor like him. "I've been in almost every continent either learning or teaching or exposed to it and everybody talks about TEEX around the world," he said.