Photo By Melanie Peterson | Col. Jeff Palazzini, USACE commander of the emergency field office – Palisades fire,...... read more read more
Kailey Bacon and Quinn Healey, U.S. Army cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, had the opportunity to shadow U.S Army Corps of Engineers leadership in an emergency operation during a recent field visit. USACE is supporting survivors of the January 7, 2025, Los Angeles wildfires in coordination with local, state, and federal partners, including FEMA.
The cadets met with Col. Jeffrey Palazzini, USACE commander of the emergency field office – Palisades fire. He typically serves as the commander of the USACE Alaska District. USACE brings unique capabilities to emergency responses and has a team from across the nation volunteering to support survivors as they recover.
Bacon and Healey gained insight into the leadership and coordination efforts required to execute a complex recovery mission. They also met with Maj. Joseph Gambino, the USACE Palisades outreach coordinator and deputy commander of the Philadelphia District; and Capt. Kellie Krygier, the USACE Palisades battle captain, who is assigned to the Japan District, seeing leadership perspectives at different levels of the U.S. Army.
The cadets are currently interning with the Ronald Reagan Pacific Palisades American Legion Post 283 where they are working with Jim Cragg, past commander of the post. Cragg emphasized the importance of understanding both technical expertise and soft skills necessary for effective leadership in emergency situations.
The visit consisted of seeing three properties with active debris removal as well as the Will Rogers State Park Temporary Debris Staging and Reduction area.
Palazzini provided an overview of USACE’s mission. He explained that USACE oversees the execution of government contracts when assigned to an emergency response mission supporting FEMA. In addition to missions in civil works, military construction, environment, navigation, recreation and regulatory, USACE also responds to emergencies and aids in disaster response and recovery.
“This was a public health and safety emergency, and we deployed here during the Phase 2 of the cleanup efforts,” Palazzini said. “USACE is here to remove the immediate threat, which in this case means removing fire and ash debris and recycling concrete, metal and vegetation.”. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completed Phase 1, which included removing hazardous items from properties.
Leadership
“There is no option for ‘this is too hard.’ The people impacted by the fire are counting on us to solve even the toughest challenges of removing debris,” Palazzini said.
Palazzini discussed with the cadets his operational approach, emphasizing the critical role of leaders in uniting teams with diverse areas of expertise. “Leadership skills make a big difference getting everyone to pull together in the same direction,” he said. “Bringing together technical experts is a leadership challenge, because they don’t always speak the same language as the general public.” He explained that military leadership can help bridge the gap and talk to people in accessible language.
He also underscored the value of cadet training in organization and coordination—skills that are essential to leading complex interagency missions like this one. “There’s a lot of input and synchronization required across local, state, and federal agencies to complete the mission successfully,” he said.
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| Date Taken: | 06.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2025 19:37 |
| Story ID: | 500265 |
| Location: | PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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