Photo By Master Sgt. Daniel Griego | In this image, members of the 6th Civil Support Team support the 2014 Blue Operational...... read more read more
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - "A 30" pipeline has exploded after a construction crew hit it," said Carter Hall, the Hazardous Materials Operations commander with the College Station Fire Department. "It's caused a lot of structural collapses with a lot of buildings in the area. Mass casualties are involved and a lot of other hazardous materials have been released."
This emergency situation in College Station, Texas, requires a coordinated effort to save lives and mitigate suffering. Thankfully, this particular scenario was a training exercise bringing together Texas Task Force 1, the College Station Fire Department, and the Texas National Guard's 6th Civil Support Team.
"This gives us a great opportunity to work with these guys, to be able to liaise with them and to be able to see exactly what their capabilities are and find where we can assist in what they do. Also, they can come in and assist in what we do," said Hall. "This isn't something where anybody has all the resources available so we're able to work together to be able to identify what the mission is and complete it successfully."
The response was part of a four-day training exercise held April 25 through 28 at the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service's Disaster City, a 52-acre training facility featuring full-scale, simulated wreckage and collapsed structures customizable to the needs of the on-site agencies. The scenarios, coordination of effort, and sharing of best practices between the different agencies were collectively designated as the 2014 Blue Operational Readiness Exercise.
"The 6th Civil Support Team is designed to respond to unknown chemical, biological, radiological incidents, but we can also do traditional HAZMAT incidents such as this," said Army Maj. Jeffrey Powell, a physician's assistant with the 6th CST. "What we bring to the fight is the expertise and equipment to support the incident command with whatever they need in the hot zone, whether it's identification, marking of the hot zone, or providing reconnaissance for follow-on elements to go in and do their urban search and rescue mission."
These capabilities proved instrumental throughout the training event, as the guardsmen's unique ability to engage contaminated areas allowed them to detect, monitor, and assess hazards before their fire & EMS counterparts conducted their efforts. Within minutes of the alert, the first CST personnel were taking samples and communicating directly with the headquarters staff on the situation.
"We train like we fight in every exercise," said Sgt. Joe Williams III, a survey team member with the CST. "Every opportunity we get to train betters our responses to real-world events. I'm painting a picture for the guys back here. I'm actually going downrange, getting the readings, seeing what's actually happening down there. So my role is basically to be the eyes and ears for the brains at operations back here."
By regularly participating in joint training exercises such as this, the guardsmen of the 6th CST ensure that they are familiar and comfortable with the people and protocols of their civil counterparts before disaster strikes.
"The CST does at least one collective exercise with our civilian first responders every month," said Powell, "and that doesn't include our stand-by missions, tabletop exercises, and liaison work that we do throughout the state. We get a lot from these exercises. We get to meet with our local first responders and it's always good to know who you're working with before there's a disaster. The first time you exchange business cards and shake hands should not be at the real scene. We learn from our HAZMAT partners and we share our information with them, as well."
More than a year has passed since the CST last trained at Disaster City, and these guardsmen are grateful for the opportunity to train again at what has been called "the most comprehensive emergency response training facility available today."
"This is a great facility to train at," said Powell. "TEEX has really done a fabulous job over the years of building this up and the infrastructure is awesome."
As a military entity, the 6th CST supports and reinforces the life-saving efforts of the civilian first responders, never assuming authority of an emergency incident.
"The civil support team has always been a great group to work with," said Hall, "they're always very eager to give assistance. They don't come in to take over, they understand what their position is and that the best way for them to assist is to be in that secondary support role."
For this and all other training events, the focus is invariably on serving the public and ensuring the safety of the citizens of Texas. Their welfare is at the forefront of each incident, whether simulated or real.
"It doesn't matter what department you work for or what's on the side of the truck," said Hall, "we're here to take care of the public."
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.27.2014 20:39 |
| Story ID: | 127768 |
| Location: | COLLEGE STATION, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 449 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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