September 12, 2017: Houston TX — On August 25, 2017 at peak intensity Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Rockport, Texas (near Houston). Over the next four-days, many areas in Southeast, Texas received an unprecedented 40 inches or more of rain, which triggered massive flooding. Several team members from the BearCom Houston office suffered complete and total loss of their homes, vehicles, and possessions. Many others experienced extensive damage and clean-up efforts. The BearCom office itself, which is located in Deer Park, escaped flooding, however the location was inaccessible for 2-3 days and many BearCom service vans were affected by the storm. BearCom Proudly Serves
Despite facing many obstacles during these difficult circumstances in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, many BearCom associates made extreme sacrifices to serve our customers, assist emergency response crews, and help in the community.
Houston_photo
Here are a few examples from the earliest days of the flooding:
  • Andrew Ybarra and Richard Alaniz got out immediately to help customers and assist the Coast Guard with a site that was down.
  • Richard Alaniz and Jerome Gerik worked on-site with customers over the first weekend to help keep their communications up-and-running.
  • Chris Cisco had a foot of water in his house, yet organized a team of approximately 40 ex-military buddies from the Fort Hood area to help with dangerous rescue efforts in the high-risk areas of Port Arthur and Beaumont.  Staging from the BearCom office, the team spent 4 straight nights and days in their personal boats working in concert with the Coast Guard and local 911 centers on their rescue missions.
  • Randy Turner and Barb Hulen’s husband ventured out with a boat to assist in initial rescue efforts.
  • Brian Martin worked tirelessly with first responder resources and EOCs helping coordinate public safety communications repair and response.  He, Walter Hall, Andrew Ybarra, and Richard Alaniz were recognized by the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) for their efforts to stand up an emergency radio system that aided FDNY’s emergency response team while in Houston
  • Jeff Moser and his wife, who is a nurse, volunteered in Kingwood to care for a group of elderly folks who were evacuated from a nursing home.
  • After being rescued by boat, Nora Fuentes and her husband spent their time at the shelter where they were staying serving meals and coffee to other evacuees.
  • Mark Henderson kept the BearCom office operating despite having a tree go through his roof.
  • Mark Gutowski, Walter Hall, Sherri McNeill, Richard Alaniz (and his son Christopher), Jerome Gerik, Brian Martin and his wife, Jeff Moser and his wife, and Rick Burchfield spent time on Saturday helping their BearCom teammates tear out sheetrock and clean out flood water and mud from their homes.

“There are dozens of similar stories we could share and many BearCom team members who deserve recognition for their selfless actions,” said Jerry Denham, CEO of BearCom. “We could not be prouder of our South Texas associates and the entire BearCom team.”

About BearCom

BearCom Group, Inc. provides a broad line of high-performance two-way wireless communications products, rentals, services, and complete mobility solutions. Founded in 1981, BearCom is America’s largest solutions provider and a wireless system integrator of wireless communications equipment, serving customers from more than 40 branch offices located throughout the U.S. BearCom, headquartered in the Dallas, Texas area, employs more than 500 people. BearCom has been designated as a Motorola Solutions Service Elite Specialist. doublelogo MOTOROLA, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC and are used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2017 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.