Showing posts with label HURRICANE SANDY RESPONSE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HURRICANE SANDY RESPONSE. Show all posts

Thursday, January 24, 2013

FEMA AND NORTHCOM EXAMINE RESPONSE TO HURRICANE SANDY

Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commander of U.S. Northern Command, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate speak at a news conference at Northcom headquarters, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., Jan. 23, 2013. Fugate met with Jacoby to discuss cooperation between FEMA and Northcom during complex catastrophes. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Northcom, FEMA Build on Hurricane Sandy Response Lessons
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2013 - Army Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commander of U.S. Northern Command, hosted Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate yesterday to explore how to build on lessons from Hurricane Sandy to improve their response to future disasters -- particularly complex catastrophes.

Fugate, who led the Sandy response, praised the military support provided through Northcom, which provides defense support to civil authorities as one of its core missions.

The challenge now is to take lessons learned from the response to fix areas that need improvement and improve processes that went well, Jacoby and Fugate told reporters during a joint news conference following their meeting at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

"We are not dwelling on the past as much as we are thinking about the future and ensuring we take the things we learn over time and push forward into the challenges that lie ahead for us," Jacoby said. "We had very, very fruitful discussions today that I think in the long term will end up being of great benefit to our citizens across the country."

One of the lessons identified during the Hurricane Katrina response in 2005 and reinforced during Hurricane Sandy last year is the importance of preparation, he said.

Jacoby recognized an extensive training and exercise program, with hurricane preparations throughout the interagency community beginning around Jan. 1 for each year's hurricane season, which starts June 1. "We have a very deliberate process where we work together," he said.

Another lesson from past disasters, the importance of pre-positioning assets where they are expected to be needed, also benefited the Hurricane Sandy response, Fugate noted. "You don't wait until [the state governors] say they need something to start moving it," he said. "You get there early, you move stuff early, all under the presumption that if [a situation] is bad, we want to be able to support it. You can't wait until it is overwhelming."

From a Defense Department standpoint, Jacoby said, the biggest challenge is not to be late to meet communities' needs. "We have the strongest, most resilient communities, towns, counties [and] cities across the land," he added. "But when they need the Department of Defense, they really need them."

So as Hurricane Sandy roared north along the Atlantic coast in October, Jacoby said, he ensured senior Defense Department leaders understood the potential scope and scale of the operation they could be called on to support. They, in turn, gave him the authority to move a full range of assets before the storm made landfall. That included search-and-rescue assets that proved vital during the response, he noted.

"We have all learned to get our search-and-rescue assets pre-positioned early and in place [to] minimize loss of life," the general said. "In Sandy, we were able to get the maximum number of resources for search-and-rescue forward early and had good effect."

Hurricane Sandy also validated the value of the new dual-status commander construct, which authorizes a designated National Guard flag officer to command active-duty, reserve and National Guard forces, Jacoby said. Dual-status commanders led joint task forces in New Jersey and New York, providing a unified response that is not possible when military forces report to separate commanders, he added.

Fugate praised the positive contribution the construct made to the Sandy response.

"It meant being able to bring a lot of resources to bear quicker," he said. "It allowed the president and defense secretary to provide resources faster and with greater unity of effort to a domestic response."

Jacoby said he hopes to continue improving on the arrangement and to build on other lessons learned during Hurricane Sandy.

"We are not going to spend too much time congratulating ourselves on Sandy," he said. "We need to focus on how to get better and continue to meet the expectations of the American public."

Fugate said the huge scale of Hurricane Sandy highlighted a shortcoming in how FEMA calls on Northcom to support disasters -- particularly large, complex ones that affect multiple states. In some cases, he said, FEMA had defined its requirements so narrowly that it limited support the military could provide.

"I need to make sure [the Northcom commander] has the mission requirements large enough, scoped broad enough, to allow a flexible response without being so prescriptive to say, 'This state, this mission,' as much as, 'This mission across multiple states,'" he said.

That could prove critical in the event of a disaster even larger than Sandy, Fugate said. "We need to understand that as bad as Sandy was, that may not be the benchmark that we need to limit ourselves to," he said. "There are threats and potential disasters that could be even larger."

As FEMA explores this concept, Northcom is busy applying the lessons from its hurricane response missions to another type of disaster it's regularly called on to support: wildfires that rage beyond the capabilities of state and local first responders.

"Like [during] hurricane season, where we begin early and build relationships and we exercise and work together ahead of time, we are instituting a similar process for firefighting," Jacoby told reporters. "We are building the team ahead of time so the relationships are there. We are not exchanging business cards with our partners at the time of the fire, but well before the fire."

Friday, November 9, 2012

U.S. DOD UPDATE ON STORM RESPONSE TO SUPER STORM SANDY

A sailor from Coastal Riverine Squadron 4 helps to erect a ten-kilowatt light plant at the Hoboken Transit Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., on Nov. 4, 2012. Members of all the Armed Forces are providing relief support to areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Martin Cuaron, U.S. Navy. (Released) 121104-N-QP268-005.jpg
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pentagon Provides Storm Response Update
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2012 - The Department of Defense is a fully integrated partner in the federal, state, and local response to Hurricane Sandy and is appropriately postured to provide additional assistance to civilian authorities, as a result of the northeaster currently sweeping through the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States, defense officials reported today.

To address potential issues from resulting this northeaster, the release said, DOD has retained significant capacity in the region to provide emergency temporary power and pumping capability and to distribute fuel, food, cold-weather clothing, and other comfort items as requested by civil authorities.

DOD's response to Hurricane Sandy continues, officials said. Significant updates over the past 24 hours, as of 11 a.m. EST, include:

DOD:

-- The Army Reserve's 401st Quartermaster Team pumped approximately seven feet of water out of Long Beach High School and a significant amount of flood water from the Long Beach Recreation Center and Long Beach Development Center on Staten Island. They are currently working to pump water from a submerged housing area in the coastal area of Brooklyn. The Army Reserve's 431st Quartermaster Team is scheduled to begin water pumping in flooded locations around the city today.

-- Air Force teams completed unwatering operations at the Rockaway Waste Water Treatment facility and East School in Long Beach, N.Y. Army divers conducted repairs to the pier system at Caven Point, N.J. A Navy dive detachment continues to support unwatering operations at the World Trade Center site.

-- A Marine detachment continues assessments with Army engineers in Far Rockaway, N.Y. They also pumped 90,000 gallons of water from area apartment buildings and approximately 750,000 gallons of water from homes and parks in Breezy Point, N.Y.

Defense Logistics Agency:

-- In total, more than 6.2 million meals have been shipped or are en route to FEMA facilities in West Virginia, New York and New Jersey. Another 7 million are in production. DLA delivered 48 pallets of bottled water to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. DLA also delivered two portable x-ray machines to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, with four more en route.

-- Nearly a million-and-a-half gallons of fuel have been delivered to Federal Emergency Management Agency distribution locations in New Jersey and New York.

-- Six-hundred thousand meals and 600 cases of water have been delivered to 11 American Red Cross mobile kitchens in New Jersey and New York. 350 pounds of propane per day and 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel per day have also been delivered to the kitchens.

-- Two 1,000-kilowatt generators have been delivered from Lakehurst, N.J., to the Carteret Fuel Terminal, N.J.

Army Corps of Engineers:

The Corps of Engineers continued its support to response operations focusing on unwatering and power generation missions and the transition to recovery operations with the initiation of debris, temporary housing, roofing and infrastructure assessments.

-- Ten of the 14 sites USACE was tasked to unwater have been cleared. Brooklyn Battery Tunnel has been unwatered and maintenance pumping is ongoing. In New York, USACE pumping operations at the Montague Street Tunnel continue. In New Jersey, pumping operations continue at Amtrak's Kearney Rail Substation, the Jersey City PATH train tunnel and the Passaic Valley Waste Water Treatment Plant.

-- USACE continues to support emergency power restoration efforts. USACE has 483 generators staged at forward locations, with an additional 116 en route. USACE has received 500 power restoration actions. 460 assessments have been completed, three are in progress and 37 are not yet started. Currently, 105 generators are installed and 39 are being installed, with 144 installations projected.

National Guard:

-- Nearly 6,000 Army and Air National Guard soldiers and sirmen from 14 states are distributing food, water and fuel throughout the affected area as well as conducting communications, security, sheltering, debris removal and transportation missions in support of recovery efforts.

-- New York National Guard personnel have distributed almost 1.5 million meals from 21 sites since Nov 1. Fifty personnel are supporting Red Cross shelters at six sites in Nassau County. Guardsmen are also sorting and distributing donated goods from the Javits Center and delivering them to three points of distribution.

-- New Jersey National Guard personnel distributed 12,590 blankets, 1,740 cots and 3,648 towels since Nov. 1. Since Nov. 2, they also have distributed 93,229 gallons of fuel to emergency responders from four distribution points in support of FEMA and DLA. The New Jersey National Guard is providing tents and mobile kitchen trailers to shelter and feed emergency management personnel. Guardsmen continue to assist civil authorities at state-run shelters with transportation, meals, water and power generation in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties, at the Jersey City Armory, and in Glen Gardner borough. Unarmed Guardsmen are providing safety and security support to law enforcement agencies in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

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