Pharr city commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding between the city, McAllen, Edinburg and San Juan fire departments during a commission meeting Monday afternoon to coordinate emergency response in the vicinity of the interchange construction.
The measure will provide mutual aid near I-2 and I-69C highways, where construction on the Texas Department of Transportation Interchange Project remains ongoing.
“What this does is the interchange is under construction, and it’s so wide we want to put in some automatic mutual aid,” Pharr City Manager Ed Wylie said during Monday’s meeting. “Our fire chief, Pilar Rodriguez, has been heading this up with the surrounding cities.”
He explained these cities would provide assistance and respond to calls in designated areas near interchange project construction — a means of improving response time in areas where access is hindered by work.
“Because of the construction that’s going on on the interchange and the inability for Pharr to be able to get to those access points … McAllen, San Juan and Edinburg (will) respond to that area,” Edinburg Fire Chief Shawn Snider said.
Edinburg will be responsible for the area of Owassa Road on I-69C, south toward the interchange. McAllen will respond to the eastbound lane from McAllen to San Juan, and San Juan will respond to the westbound lane from San Juan to McAllen and north on I-2.
“We’ll all be responding at the same time depending on which direction it is,” Snider continued. “Pharr will get there, and they’ll either assist on mitigating the incident or they will take over and we will come back to our city. It’s an accessibility issue based on construction.”
The mutual aid agreement will expire when construction is completed on the interchange. Snider emphasized the need to not confuse the new agreement with the mutual aid agreement that has been in place for years.
Over 48 cities signed an agreement in 1975 that stated that nearby municipalities will respond to emergencies with available resources to help mitigate the situation.
Pharr Mayor Ambrosio Hernandez said that the new mutual aid agreement was another show of unity between the communities in the region.
“We expect exactly what (the memorandum of understanding) says,” Hernandez said. “I would go even as far as saying anybody in the county that needs help, the city of Pharr and its assets will be available to those residents because we want to make sure that everybody is taken care of.”
