Photo By Christopher Gardner | This garage was constructed as part of the temporary replacement for Fire Station 4 in...... read more read more
JOPLIN, Mo. -- A specially trained team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, has been working here to help build temporary replacements since a massive tornado struck in May.
The storm left more than 150 people dead and more than 1,000 injured, leaving countless damaged and destroyed homes and structures in its wake. Wherever the approximately one-mile-wide tornado touched down, it left indescribable, total destruction.
Among the devastation, two of the city’s fire stations were so damaged they had to be razed and several schools were left in ruins.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including a team from its New York District, was called in, as part of the National Response Framework led by FEMA, to assist with response and recovery efforts in Joplin. Kansas City District led the corps’ overall efforts in Joplin, where the corps’ primary response and recovery missions included debris removal, construction of temporary housing communities and the construction of temporary critical public facilities.
New York District’s Temporary Housing Planning and Response Team, which normally manages temporary residential housing missions, was call upon to manage the design and construction of critical public facilities. The New York District team has deployed several times in the past, usually after hurricanes and tornadoes. The last time the team was deployed for a mission of this scale was in 2008 after Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast of Texas when the team managed the construction of more than 3,500 temporary housing units and three separate temporary housing communities.
However, for Joplin the PRT became a Critical Public Facilities PRT and took on what is not a very common mission for the corps and was a first for New York District – the construction of temporary modular facilities to replace those that have been destroyed or severely damaged while they are either replaced or repaired. In the case of Joplin, the team was tasked with building temporary facilities for two temporary fire stations and eight schools.
“We’re typically do housing and this is something different with critical public facilities, like your fire houses and your schools,” said Russ Smith, a CPF team member deployed to Joplin from New York District’s Readiness Office. “It’s a chance to learn some new skills and prove we can do more than just temp housing.”
The city quickly razed the two damaged fire stations and the new temporary modular facilities were constructed adjacent to the original sites. Each of the temporary fire stations constructed consisted of a large garage for the fire trucks, tornado shelters and a main modular facility with office space, restrooms and showers, living space with a kitchen and an area for firefighters to sleep in.
“The firemen are in there and they’re very happy,” said Lucia Gamba, a civil engineer from New York District deployed to Joplin with the CPF team. “Before, they were in a little trailer where the air conditioning worked sometimes and they had an outhouse so they’re ecstatic now.”
Delivering Schools
Work continues on the construction of temporary facilities for eight area schools that were destroyed or severely damaged by the tornado, serving students from toddler age through high school. The goal is to have the new temporary facilities ready for the first day of classes, Aug. 17.
“The mission is extremely important,” said Encer Shaffer, civil engineer from New York District deployed to Joplin with the CPF team. “You’ve got thousands of students here, many of whose lives have been turned upside down. Many of these kids have lost their homes. I know the school district’s mission is to try to restore some normalcy to these young children’s lives, get them back in school and continue their education.”
The CPF team is working closely with school officials to make sure that not only are the school facilities completed by the Aug. 17 deadline, but that once complete they will meet the needs of Joplin’s students and faculty.
Nila Vance, principal of Emerson Elementary School in Joplin, said she found working with the Corps of Engineers easy while meeting with CPF team members to discuss potential layouts for modular facilities at the new temporary site for her school.
Vance and other school officials worked with CPF team members and helped provide insight into the reality of day to day operations at the schools, like what design features were needed in modular facilities, student schedules and movement, and overall the needs of her students and staff.
To meet the August goal, the local school district will be shifting students around and in many cases utilizing existing school buildings, some vacant and some not, that weren’t damaged. In these cases, the temporary modular facilities will be constructed within the property footprints of the school sites that were not damaged, effectively increasing the capacity of existing schools while efficiently using their existing capacities like kitchens for cafeterias and basic utilities where feasible.
For example, students from the severely damaged Irving Elementary School will attend classes using an existing smaller vacant school building in a different part of town with temporary modular facilities and tornado shelters being constructed adjacent to it.
Tornado shelters for students and staff are being incorporated into all temporary school sites being constructed by the CPF team, with larger schools needing dozens of tornado shelters installed at their sites.
Not all of the temporary school facilities will be incorporating existing school buildings. For example, the high school, which serves more than 2,000 students and will be split into two sites by grades, will be combining extra space in an area shopping mall with modular facilities from the CPF team.
Between the eight schools, ranging from an early childhood center to a large high school, the CPF team had to research and design a wide variety of unique types of modular facilities needed, ranging from several types of science laboratories, a band room, an orchestra room, a horticultural classroom, school kitchens, a greenhouse, and gyms including locker rooms and one with a weight room.
“Predominantly most of the classrooms are desks and the teacher can do what they want to do inside the classrooms,” Shaffer said. “But when it comes to something like a science lab or a chemistry lab – and we even have an industrial lab – the layout inside these classrooms is different and there are certain items that are required that we need to install in order for these to be useful for the school and students.”
The CPF team was also tasked with including athletics fields needed for the high school for sports like soccer, football, baseball and softball.
“The existing locations were completely destroyed or perhaps inundated with contaminates from tornado debris,” Shaffer said. “These are the facilities the school had been using for their sporting events when they played other teams.”
Executing the Mission
Even though the temporary facilities are being constructed in an emergency situation, the CPF team still has to adhere to fair and legal contracting practices, ensure that the work does not potentially cause serious detriment to the environment as well as ensure the contractors are held to standards and codes and that the temporary facilities are constructed properly and delivered on time. That includes conducting site assessments and ensuring NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) compliance and then for the contract awards issuing requests for proposals, accepting and assessing bids, putting bids through a technical reviews to ensure bidders are capable of executing the contracts and ultimately awarding contracts for the delivery and construction of the temporary facilities.
Danny Lee, a civil engineer from New York District deployed to Joplin with the CPF team, said working with reach back support, especially in contracting, from New York District personnel, as well as Seattle District and Kansas City District, the team was able to move very quickly.
“We were able to award nine contracts totaling more than $15 million dollars in less than a three week period,” Lee said, which he noted would likely take months rather than weeks in a normal setting. “The mission here is much more fast-paced and we’re delivering these projects on time and under budget so far. This has really been quite a success story for the Corps and for New York District.”
While the two temporary fire stations are complete, construction at the school sites continues and team members are optimistic about meeting the August deadline to allow for school to start on time and to help create some normalcy in the lives of the students that were impacted so severely by the massive tornado.
Despite the long hours and hard work on the mission, team members said they were proud to be able to be a part of the mission.
“In my opinion you can’t get much more rewarding than this.” Shaffer said. “You’re looking at kids’ lives, if you’re like me and love kids, I’ve got three of my own, think how it would be for them if their school was turned upside, if their house was lost and just knowing that we’re going to have an impact on the lives of potentially thousands of kids, and take it a step further with the teachers, the parents and how many people you’re affecting – that’s a tremendous impact and to be part of that helps make you feel good.”
| Date Taken: | 08.04.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 08.04.2011 13:33 |
| Story ID: | 74842 |
| Location: | JOPLIN, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 199 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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