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The National Guard Exceeds Expectations during Exercise

By Sgt. Emily Donigan
122nd Public Affairs Operations Center

In the early morning hours of Saturday, July 21, 2007 the Spokane International Airport Fire Department responded to an automobile accident.  Upon their arrival at Geiger Field in Spokane, Washington they came across a gruesome scene.  Roughly 35 victims were strewn about; some dazed and wandering, others screaming in agony.  A layer of white powder, dumped from one of the vehicles, coated the victims of the two-car accident as well as bystanders attending a nearby soccer game.  Homer Burson, Battalion Chief, immediately called for back-up.  He had a mass casualty incident possibly involving a hazardous material on his hands.

Volunteer Firefighter Jessica Pegg with the Airway Heights Fire Department leads “victim” Zac Turcott to a decontamination area during a CERF-P training exercise at Geiger Field in Spokane, WA on July 21st, 2007

Wearing Self Breathing Apparatus (SBA), firefighters Bruce Cirone and Matt Simms quickly moved between patients, assessed their wounds and moved them to safer locations.  “You’ve got people who are confused.  They don’t know what’s going on.  They’re yelling, screaming.  They have injuries.  They feel like they’re getting worse and folks have to understand that we’re trying to triage them, in other words, sort their injuries out,” explains Simms, who has been a firefighter for the last sixteen years.  “You have patients yelling and screaming because they’re in pain, but that’s a good thing because [it lets us know] they’re conscious and alert.”

While the firefighters assisted victims, Washington National Guard and local agencies from nearby counties and districts arrived on scene and began setting up for decontamination.  Victims were hosed down by volunteer firefighters from the Airway Heights Fire Department before being scrubbed and showered.  They were treated by Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and then taken to decontamination and medical tents set up by the National Guard.

That is how this year’s Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and high yield Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package (CERF-P) exercise kicked off for the members of the Washington National Guard.  The units involved include; 420th Chemical Battalion, the Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing, 194th Regional Support Wing, and the 252nd Combat Communications Group.  The “victims” of Saturday’s event were actually volunteers from local groups such as COPS (Community Oriented Policing Effort), SCOPE (Sheriffs Community Oriented Policing Effort), and the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps.

Members of the National Guard units trained all week in preparation for Saturday’s simulated catastrophe, and will continue to train to ensure that they are capable to handle a real life incident.  Dave Curry and Kyle Zimmer, civilian instructors from the International Union of Operating Engineers, provided the Soldiers and Airmen with 40 hours of HAZMAT (hazardous material) classes resulting in a certificate for each student from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).  “Training gives you an organized approach [to] solving the problem.  They see it in a training atmosphere and they can apply it in the field,” said Zimmer, a health and safety director from Connecticut.  Zimmer and Curry went to New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit and trained FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) employees to handle to the decontamination and hazardous materials.  It became quickly apparent, however; that it wasn’t very effective or efficient to train emergency responders during an emergency.  “You’ve got people dying and you’ve got events taking place on a horrendous level, so it’s very important to train them before things happen, so they are ready, and they kind of know what to expect, kind of know what they’re getting in to,” said Curry. 

Soldiers from the 420th Chemical Battalion process local volunteer through decontamination during a CERF-P training exercise at Geiger Field in Spokane, WA on July 21st, 2007

The Soldiers and Airmen on the CERF-P team set up several tents and equipment for the exercise.  They are expected to be completely operational within ninety minutes of their arrival.  Sgt 1st Class Patrick Hock, the assistant administrative operations NCO with the 792nd Chemical Company says, this year’s team was able to be up and running in seventy minutes.  Victims were brought to the “Hot Zone” where they were triaged by Airmen from the 141st Medical Group.  Casualties who could walk were taken to one tent for decontamination; those who couldn’t were placed on backboards and sent through another decontamination tent.  Soldiers of the 420th Chemical Battalion expertly cut off victim’s clothes, scrubbed them with warm water and decontaminates, rinsed them, redressed them, and assisted them to medical tents, all while wearing sweltering NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) suits and gas masks.

Sgt 1st Class Mark Fisher of the 1161st Transportation Company, who participated in last year’s CERF-P exercise, served as a technical advisor to the soldiers of the 420th Chemical Battalion.  “I’ve been here with these guys since the day they were handed the mission and watched them.  From where they started to where they are today, they’ve grown.  They’ve done a great job,” said Fisher.

Overall, the top command down to the youngest volunteer felt Saturday’s interagency exercise was a success.  “It always has a good outcome when you get multiple agencies together and everyone works together because in a big MCI like this, that’s what’s going to happen,” said Simms.  But more than just being an important exercise in logistics and building working relationships with civilian agencies, Saturday’s event demonstrated the National Guard’s invaluable contribution to the safety of this nation.  Homer Burson, a 38-year veteran with the Spokane International Airport Fire Department, describes the National Guard as, “very valuable, and absolutely indispensable.  We would still be in the middle of this without the manpower and knowledge base those guys come in with.  They know what to do without having to be told.”