New England CERFP tested and ready

Photo By Corinna Baltos | Staff Sgt. Mark Styles, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), New Hampshire National Guard, observes his Soldiers rehearsing the proper way to remove protective gear Oct. 22 at the Rhode Island Fire Academy in Exeter, R.I. The Soldiers were there as part of their re-certification training with the New England Chemical, Biological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package. The CERFP is part of the Region I Homeland Response Force, which underwent a collective training and an exercise evaluation at Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass. If called upon to assist local and state responders with a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident, the command team would be located several miles from the “hot zone” as one of their duties is to coordinate and process replacement units.  

EXETER, RI, UNITED STATES

10.29.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Corinna Baltos 

U.S. Army North

EXETER, R.I. - A simulated large scale disaster had hit New England. Thousands of people were displaced, injured and covered in contamination. This multi-state disaster was of such a magnitude it overwhelmed local first responders. The local officials tell their state governor, “We need more help.” Who’s he going to call? The New England Chemical, Biological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), that’s who.

The Guardsmen who make up the New England CERFP were at the Rhode Island Fire Academy here, Oct. 21-26 participating in a training and evaluation exercise to re-certify the CERFP for another two years.

The exercise was overseen by evaluators from U.S. Army North’s Civil Support Training Activity, and the Joint Interagency Training and Education Center.

The New England CERFP is made up of nearly 200 Army and Air National Guardsmen from Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. It consists of a mission command team, a medical team, a search and extraction/recovery team, a decontamination team and a security team.

The unit’s evaluation and training was part of the FEMA Region I Homeland Response Force evaluation and training that took place at Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

While the units have been on mission since 2010, it is necessary for them to re-certify every two years to ensure that they are capable of carrying out the mission if called upon.

“The policy was established by the National Guard Bureau,” said Jerry McGhee, chief exercise planner, JITEC. “This is due to people rotating in and out of the units, new equipment and new changes.”

While the CERFP is capable of working independently, having the HRF set up 100 miles away added a level of complexity to the evaluation.

“As a commander, I like to have eyes on my troops but sometimes that is not always possible, so I rely on what I am being told to make decisions,” said Col. Richard Johnson, commander of the Region I HRF.

Johnson also said that he had complete faith in the ability of the Soldiers and Airmen in the CERFP to carry out the mission.

“My CERFPs are awesome,” said Johnson. “The lower level functionality is very good.”

Johnson went on to say that the CERFPs conduct training throughout the year so they are always ready if called upon. The N.E. CERFP is one of two CERFPs that fall under the Region I HRF, the other is the Massachusetts CERFP.

During the first four days of the training, the CSTA and JITEC subject-matter experts ran the unit through training to allow them to rehearse the objectives they would be evaluated on, the last day was the evaluation day.

“To pass the evaluation and be certified the CERFP has to be able to process 40 ambulatory and 20 non-ambulatory patients through the decontamination process,” said Sixto Martinez, a contractor working with CSTA.

Martinez, who was evaluating the decon line, said it takes an average of 10 minutes to get one person completely through the line.

One of the many challenges faced by the members of the CERFP was keeping the pace up and staying hydrated while wearing full protective gear.

“Even when it is not hot outside, it gets hot in the suits,” said Army Master Sgt. Michael Healey, a medic with the 143rd Airlift, Rhode Island Air National Guard. “We constantly have to push water and rest. We aren’t doing anyone any good if we become a casualty. We all work together to accomplish our task.”

The units that comprise the New England CERFP are:

Search and Extraction:
-861st Engineer Company, Rhode Island National Guard

Decontamination:
-Company C, 237th Military Police Battalion, New Hampshire National Guard
-3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), New Hampshire National Guard
-143rd Airlift Wing, Rhode Island Air National Guard

Medical:
-157th Refueling Wing, New Hampshire National Guard

Command and Control:
-521st Troop Command Battalion, Maine National Guard

• Date Taken: 10.29.2014
• Date Posted: 10.30.2014 14:43
• Story ID: 146592
• Location: EXETER, RI, US