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Orland Firefighters receive awards for battling flooding during Texas deployment
Orland Fire Protection District, IL – Three members of the Orland Fire Protection District were honored on Tuesday (9-23-25), receiving the MABAS Humanitarian Award for serving on a state Task Force sent to help Texas residents who were the victims of major flooding last July.
The Fire District also received a MABAS award along with the three firefighters, who were among 40 first responders dispatched to Texas as a part of the Illinois Task Force One response to the July 4, 2025 floods.
More than 135 people were killed, and at least 117 died in Texas during the flooding.
The flooding was caused by a mesoscale convective vortex with enhanced tropical moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, a short-lived Atlantic tropical cyclone, and remnant tropical moisture from the eastern Pacific.
Firefighters honored were Lt. Mark Hogan, Lt. Dan Ritchie and Lt. Zachary Zweizig, who each received the MABAS Humanitarian Award and the Decoration Humanitarian Service Medal.
“We are very proud and grateful to our firefighters for their service to help the victims of the Texas flooding,” Fire District Board President Beth Damas Kaspar said. “Thank you, Lt. Mark Hogan, Lt. Dan Ritchie, and Lt. Zachary Zweizig.”
The awards and medals were presented by Interim Fire Chief John Purtill and retired Battalion Chief Joe Moore.
Moore said the firefighters were paired with the Texas National Guard working in the Austin area at Cow and Big Sandy creeks searching for survivors.
Moore read the text of the certificates and awards. “This is to certify to all who shall see these presented greetings, this is certified that the president of the mutual aid box arm system is authorized by executive director in order to be awarded the humanitarian service medal for the flood disaster in the state of Texas, response to a relief effort to for outstanding and sustained individual and team actions for the period of July 2025 and service with the state of Texas, the flash flood disaster response and relief effort.”
Purtill added, “I’d like to congratulate these three firefighters. They spent sixteen days away from their families in pretty extreme conditions, 95 degree heat most days, almost every day, with high humidity. They worked long workdays, sixteen hours each day, minimum.”
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