10/09/2026
Center Point VFD Chief Charles Holt receives the national Exceptional Law and Order Service Award from Stephanie Keck of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW)
The Hill Country Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) presented the national Exceptional Law and Order Service Award to Center Point VFD (CPVFD) Chief Charles Holt at the September 28 Kerr County Commissioners Court. The local Chapter nominated Chief Holt for the award for his and his department’s outstanding work during the Guadalupe River flooding on July 4, 2025. This award is for the recognition of exceptional leadership and management performance of a leader in the public safety field.
While multiple first responders performed heroically during the flooding that day and needed to be recognized, the award criteria limited the submittal to one leader--it was difficult to select one person to nominate.
As most of us remember, the remnants of a Pacific storm stalled over the Texas Hill Country and dropped 10-20 inches of rain in a very short time in the early morning hours. Because of the rocky soil and steep terrain, most of the rain ran down the hills into the Guadalupe River. The river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes, causing massive flooding (more than had ever been experienced). At least 119 people lost their lives in the Kerr County because of the flood. Many of the fatalities were people camping on the river for the holiday weekend or from the many summer camps along the river.
Chief Holt was paged out at 3:37 AM to rescue five people trapped on a roof 23 miles upriver in Hunt. He was only able to travel 17 miles before the massive flooding covered the road. He and his team went into the river to rescue people being carried rapidly downstream. This was extremely dangerous because of the debris in the river (e.g.: vehicles, propane tanks, trees, snakes, fuel, and everything else that the raging water picked up along its path). A woman was washed 18 miles down the river and was able to perch herself in a tree. She spent an hour in the tree before the CPVFD team assisted with rescued her.
Chief Holt continued to rescue people from the water until 5:45 AM when he had to return to Center Point to take care of his area. He and his team executed their flood response plan. They evacuated over 375 residents and tourists in their area—no souls were lost in the Center Point area of responsibility. The flood hit Center Point at 7:30 AM and peaked at 8:10 AM. The river rose 41 ½ feet in 38 minutes in their area. Their fire station was flooded by seven feet of water. Fortunately, their trucks were out of the station saving people and were not lost—but the contents of the station were destroyed or washed away.
Chief Holt led the recovery. Fire department personnel and volunteers helped clean up and repair the station to get it ready for the search and recovery effort the next day. A contractor fixed all of the problems in the station which made it usable very quickly. The CPVFD team and volunteers searched for victims of the flood along 14 miles of river the next day. The station became the center of operations for searching the nearby section of the river. The Center Point school was the staging area for receiving and distributing supplies provided by many volunteers. These supplies and equipment were needed by local residents and for the volunteer searchers.
Between 1,800 and 3,000 people searched the river. Chief Holt and his team organized the volunteers and provided them with equipment and supplies. Feeding them was a major operation—about 3,000 meals per day were fed to searchers. Local businesses such as HEB and Walmart donated food.
Chief Holt and his team performed heroically and exceptionally under very difficult circumstances to save many people during the flood, to get his fire station back in operation, to support local residents who had damaged or destroyed homes and to support the many volunteers in the search and recovery effort. In addition, Chief Holt closed his family business for at least three months following the flood to focus his energy on supporting recovery areas.
MOWW is a patriotic, non-partisan organization of all veterans who are retired, former, on active duty or members of the Reserves or the National Guard—to include active duty for training—in the Uniformed Services of the United States of America. There is no requirement to have fought in a world war. More information is available from the chapter commander, Mrs. Julia Peters at [email protected].
