Huntsville Center hosts temporary housing training

Photo By David San Miguel | The Huntsville Center hosted a Temporary Housing and Critical Public Facility Training seminar here, July 31 and August 1, to prepare the HNC team to support response operations following natural disasters or other emergencies.  

HUNTSVILLE, AL, UNITED STATES

08.07.2019

Story by David San Miguel 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville

The Huntsville Center hosted a Temporary Housing and Critical Public Facility Training seminar here, July 31 and August 1, to prepare the HNC team to support response operations following natural disasters or other emergencies.

As the nation’s primary federal engineering agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers often is called to response when a disaster exceeds the capabilities of state and local interests.
Its record is well documented.

According to Patsy Fletcher, permanent cadre member and member of Emergency Support Function #3, USACE has six Temporary Housing Planning and Response Teams (PRTs) located at New York, Alabama, West Virginia, Florida, California and Minnesota ready to deploy in response to natural or nature-based disasters.

Once the Secretary of Homeland Security activates ESF #3, the teams are deployed to facilitate the delivery of services, technical assistance, engineering expertise, construction management and other support to prepare for, respond to or recover from a disaster or incident requiring a coordinated federal response.

Following a disaster, it’s critical that team members are ready to vacate their work and be ready to deploy at a moments notice, so having their supervisor’s support is important, said Jason Adams, cadre member with the Huntsville Center.

“You never know when you’ll get that call,” he said.

This demand necessitates districts, as well as HNC to maintain a list of team members ready to deploy.

“Following a disaster, PRTs are dispatched to provide temporary housing, stand up critical public facilities, i.e. fire stations, schools, clinics and hospitals, basically any place where permanent structures are damaged and that can’t be utilized,” Fletcher said. “Normally, we conduct centralized training but because of budgetary constraints can only fund 4-5 personnel per team to attend every other year.”

That, she said, wasn’t enough given the frequency of disasters we seem to be encountering these days.

To maximize this effort, USACE has developed a new training concept in which the trainers will go to the teams.

“The concept is that they can train more team members and at least two teams per year,” Fletcher said. “Here in Huntsville with this iteration, it has allowed us to train 38 team members at one setting, something that would never have been possible previously.”

Instructors included Bonnie Greenleaf from USACE, St. Paul District; Randy Campbell and Adam Gaskin from USACE, Huntington District; and Jason Adams from the Huntsville Center.

“For many years, HNC's Housing PRT has played a very significant role in response and recovery efforts across the U.S., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico,” said Jeffrey Davis, HNC Emergency Management Specialist.

It’s rewarding work and something, he says individuals should consider.

“We depend heavily on high-speed and motivated individuals who are willing and able to answer the call,” he said. “Our country depends on volunteers, especially following a natural disaster.”

Davis advises personnel interested in joining the team to complete the Level 1/2 online HPRT training and have a current Statement of Understanding acknowledging that they along with their first line supervisor understand the PRT requirements. This form must be signed by the supervisor and approved by the HNC commander. The individual must also have an updated medical screening packet on file.

For more information, contact Davis at [phone] or [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 08.07.2019
• Date Posted: 08.07.2019 14:46
• Story ID: 334915
• Location: HUNTSVILLE, AL, US