Inside City of Houston's level one safety plan in preparation for Astros' championship parade
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- There were upwards of 1 million people in downtown Houston to watch the Astros' World Series parade.
While official numbers are still being tallied up with the city of Houston, we do know that the parade this time was twice the length of 2017's championship parade.
The police presence downtown was undeniable, but behind the scenes watching from a distance were some of the top security officers in Houston who were ready to implement disaster plans.
The Houston Astros won and the crowds converged, fans coming in from across the state all for a glimpse at our World Series Champions.
"The mayor invited people to come out, they closed schools and folks came out," George Buenik, the Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security in Houston, said.
As hundreds of thousands flooded into downtown, the celebration turned into a very serious security operation.
Watching from a distance, dozens of security personnel from 30 different agencies assembled at the city's Office of Homeland Security. Inside a wall of screens captured the entire parade route on camera while other crews were monitoring 911 calls.
All of this because they were operating at level one.
"If things would go wrong, we have all the decision makers in the room and we can develop a plan fairly quickly," Buenik said.
He told ABC13 that the weather was the biggest culprit.
"There were no major incidents or disturbances," Buenik said. "Early on, it seemed like there was a variety of EMS/medical calls along the route, but minor issues, people getting dehydrated, people getting a little bit overheated."
It's no surprise with the packed crowds and high energy enthusiasm.
Aside from a fan who threw an empty can at Sen. Ted Cruz, the incident team said the parade was a success.
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