940th Wing Reservists respond to rising floodwaters

by Dana Lineback
940th Wing

12/4/2012 - BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Heavy rains and high winds pounded Beale Air Force Base, Calif., early Sunday morning as 940th Wing reservists reported for duty on the December Unit Training Assembly weekend.

The 940th Civil Engineering and 940th Security Forces squadrons had just settled in for a day of training when the call for help came in. Water was rising quickly all over the installation. Streets were flooding, power lines and trees were downed, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets were being threatened.

With most of the active duty responders unable to get on base due to flooding of area roads, the Reserve squadrons sprang into action.

"One of our first tasks was to clear downed trees and power lines from base housing," said Tech. Sgt. Chad Newberry, a 940 CES Operations Management Air Reserve Technician. "We dispatched a loader to unblock the streets so emergency responders and base leadership could get in and out of that area."

Bridges over waterways on base rapidly became dangerous. Three members of the reserve squadron were sent to Beale Lake Bridge. With a backhoe, a front loader and a grader, the trio cleared 60 yards - the equivalent of 5 dump trucks - of sediment and rock debris.

Meanwhile, in the Civil Engineering complex, the squadron's power production team waded through chest-deep water to pull generators out of one building while another team worked to cut power to an electrical panel completely underwater in another building.

As additional tasking poured in from across the base, 940th Security Forces responded, diverting traffic from flooded roads and putting barriers up on bridges, closing gates to the base and securing areas where power lines had fallen.

The 940 CES dispatched a high-reach bucket truck to restore power to the housing area and other members of the squadron were tasked with filling sandbags. Yet another crew salvaged printers, computers and other supplies, including pesticides, from the entomology shop on base where flood waters had reached the three-foot level inside the building.

Master Sgt. Thundercloud Hirajeta was the Standby Duty Officer for the 9th Civil Engineering Squadron that day.

"Sunday's response was a great effort on the part of everyone involved," said Hirajeta, the 9 CES Heavy Repair Element Chief. "It was an example of how the reservists play their part in our mission. We could not have recovered this base in such a short time without the 940th Wing working hand-in-hand with the active duty here."