Courtesy Story
North Dakota National Guard
FARGO, N.D. - The call came in to the
North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Civil Engineer Squadron fire
department. A civilian cargo transport plane had crashed, spewing its contents
before bursting into flames.
Firefighters from various agencies
responded and once the fire was out, a hazardous materials team arrived in
response to hazardous cargo listed on the flight manifest. In the meantime, the
North Dakota National Guard’s 81st Civil Support Team was activated from its
Bismarck location.
The plane crash, burning wreckage and
hazardous cargo weren’t real. Rather, it was all part of a no-notice training
exercise at the North Dakota Air Guard’s Regional Training Site here that brought together civilian
first responders and members of the North Dakota Guard to test their skills, as
well as their abilities to work side-by-side, in response to a potential
threat.
“We need to know what the civilian
hazmat procedures are, what their equipment is, and how it operates,” said Maj.
Lila Teunissen, with the 81st CST, who helped coordinate the response. “They
need to know what assets we have. We have a lot of commercial, off-the-shelf
different types of equipment that will detect things the standard hazmat team
cannot.
We are also a good back-reach resource;
we don’t necessarily have to come on scene to help out. This is one of those
times where we are trying to put all the pieces together, to see what resources
they’ve got, to see what resources we have, and see how quickly we can identify
what’s out there.”
As an exercise coordinator Teunissen
knew what would play out in the scenario, but for others involved the call came
as a surprise. It’s part of regular real-world type training scenarios the
teams use to test and refine their response, said Teunissen.
“Neither (team) knew the debris field
was going to be out there, so it was surprising,” said Joe Svir, a firefighter
with the Fargo-Morehead Fire Department, about the situation he encountered.
Even as the simulated radioactive
elements were being discovered near the burned jet at the training site, two
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were on the way from Bismarck loaded with
equipment and personnel ready to respond. All of that combined to add to the
realism of the exercise.
“I think we should do this all the
time,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Miller, a firefighter with the 119th
Wing. “Because, if an incident does happen, it’s not just going to be us
(responding). It’s not just going to be Fargo Fire (department). It’s not just going to be Moorhead Fire
(department). We are all going to be working together as a team. As much of
this training as we can get, I think we should do it within our resource
capabilities.”
The exercise took most of the day,
giving Guard members and first responders a chance to get to know each other’s
capabilities. The exercise ended with a firefighter simulating a heat stroke
and a review of the events from which everyone could learn and make
adjustments.
“It’s
a lot of fun,” miller said. “They have the same viewpoints, the same ideal that
we do as firefighters. They’re all great guys out here. (I) love working with
them and getting to meet them. We don’t get a lot of opportunity to work with
Fargo Fire or Moorhead Fire, so the big thing is getting to know the guys,
getting to work with them and seeing how their attitudes are. It was awesome.
Anytime they want me to work with them again, sign me up.”
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