McGuire continues recovery efforts, FEMA base of operations

by 2nd Lt. Alexis McGee Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. (AFNS) -- Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst personnel are continuing with recovery efforts and expect to resume most operations Wednesday.

Impact from the storm includes fallen trees, scattered debris, some property damage, minor flooding and power outages.

"The entire joint base's preparation efforts went a long way toward mitigating serious damage," said Maj. Chris Wedewer, 87th Civil Engineer Squadron, operations flight chief. "A majority of the facilities and base housing units on McGuire and Lakehurst have full power. Several power lines were downed by the storm and as a result, most of Dix remains without power. The downed power lines do pose a hazard, but we're working to get them repaired as soon as possible."

The base continues to house 300 U.S. Coast Guard recruits from Cape May, N.J., in addition to providing an installation support base for FEMA Region II and III. FEMA Region II serves New Jersey and New York while FEMA Region III serves Washington D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

"FEMA will continue recovery efforts for the central and southern New Jersey area from JB MDL as long as necessary," said Bill Douglass, external affairs specialist at FEMA, Region II. "FEMA will also be actively engaged throughout New York, just as it was through much of last year and this, helping communities recover from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in both New York and New Jersey."

In spite of current limitations, base personnel will resume normal operating hours Wednesday.

"The efforts by a small group of people were phenomenal," said Col. Jeffery Doll, Army Support Activity-Dix commander. "I fully expect the recovery effort at our ranges to be completed within 24 hours and for training to resume once power is restored to our facilities."

Evacuated aircraft are also preparing to return to the installation from their temporary shelter locations.

"We're just thankful our folks weathered the storm without serious injury and that we continue to support recovery operations in the local area by hosting the FEMA team here," said Col. John Wood, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst commander.

The Department of Defense Prepares for Hurricane Sandy

At the direction of Secretary Panetta, the Department of Defense is taking aggressive steps to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and State authorities as Hurricane Sandy moves northward.

With the goal of helping to save lives and property during the storm, the Secretary has agreed with the Governors of Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to appoint Dual Status Commanders as the storm approaches.

Dual Status Commanders are authorized to command both Federal and State National Guard forces. This special authority enables them to effectively integrate the defense support operations and capabilities that Governors request. The Secretary is prepared to quickly agree to similar requests from other States.

At the federal level, the Department's disaster preparedness and response efforts support the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, and rapidly meet the requests for assistance they provide.

United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is placing aviation assets such as light and medium lift helicopters and rescue teams on 24 hour Prepare to Deploy Order status in response to Hurricane Sandy. USNORTHCOM is also providing military installations for FEMA to use to conduct response operations, and is providing specialized planners who will help expedite DoD's response to requests for assistance.

The National Guard Bureau is in close coordination with Adjutants General (TAGs) and their disaster response teams in every East Coast state. These State National Guard organizations are coordinating with their respective state emergency management agencies and FEMA regions.

EPLOs deploy to Caribbean for hurricane response preparation

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- With tropical storm activity increasing in the Atlantic region, officials from the Air Forces Northern National Security Emergency Preparedness Directorate deployed two emergency preparedness liaison officers to assist in response efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The EPLOs' skills, experience and knowledge of U.S. Air Force capabilities will assist in determining the right resources if Department of Defense assets are requested by civilian authorities to support the response within the stricken areas.

"When a natural disaster occurs, local officials are in charge of the response effort," said Michael Thornal, an NSEP official. "If the disaster becomes catastrophic, (Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives) will come in to assist the local authorities upon request of the governors. Our EPLOs deploy to the scene to augment the local and federal officials and to advise them of the resources AFNORTH can provide to aid in the response."

The EPLOs will be assigned to FEMA's Region II Defense Coordinating Element.

EPLOs are geographically assigned to each state and the 10 FEMA Regional Response Coordination Centers. The officers come from a wide range of career fields including air operations, logistics, medical, security forces and public affairs.

Milcom Blog Logs - 29-30 Dec 2010 Brasstown NC

LaMoure, ND -- Ed Krell operates FEMA's Incident Response Vehicle (IRV) set up at the base of Lake LaMoure sillway to provide live streaming video to local and state emergency operations center for planning and documentation purposes. Photo: Michael Rieger/FEMA.

Ran PC-ALE on the various known FEMA net frequencies. Found a new 15 MHz FNARS net ALE freq, and a new FEMA sponsored HF ALE net that I have discovered, usage yet to be determined (see the HIJ listings). My good friend and colleague Hugh Stegman on twitter (Twitter feed at UtilityWorld)posted up a couple of additional freqs yesterday. My best guess is that HIJ may be WGY 912 at Mt Weather in Virginia.

This new FEMA sponsored net uses the following frequencies:
4610.0 4979.0 5837.0 7870.0 10424.0 11448.0 12109.0 13437.0 16011.0 18475.0 20361.0 23390.0 kHz. More monitoring research is needed to determine the usage of this net.

Here are the ALE addresses and frequencies spotted up until 0530 EST (1030 UTC) this morning. Conditions yesterday were the pits thanks to the prop gods.

12/29-30/2010 Intercepts

3341.0 FC4FEM FC6FEM FC8 FC8FEM FR2FEM FR4FEM FR5FEM
4603.0 FC4FEM FC6FEM FC8FEM FC0FEM FR3FEM FR5FEM FR7FEM
4610.0 HIJ
4780.0 FC6FEM002 FC8 FC0FEM002
4979.0 HIJ
5135.0 MA1NC NA1SH SEMO01 SEMO05 SEMOHQ
5192.0 MA1NC NA1SH
5402.0 FC6FEM FC8 FC0FEM008 FR7FEM
5820.0 FC8
5821.0 FC8 FC0FEM008
5837.0 FC8 HIJ
6809.0 FC8
7348.0 FC4FEM FC6FEM FC8 FR2FEM FR3FEM FR4FEM FR5FEM
7360.0 SAOPS (US Military?)
7428.0 FC1FEM002 FC6FEM002
7477.0 SEMOHQ SEMO03 SEMO05
7805.0 MA1NC NA1SH 2104CTSCSP
7870.0 HIJ
7935.0 CM4 MNA (Algerian Military)
8050.0 CLS (Fort Campbell KY) FC8
8160.0 CLS (Fort Campbell KY) FC8
9462.0 FC4FEM FC6FEM FC8 FC8FEM FC0FEM008 FR3FEM
10194.0 FC4FEM FC8 FR2FEM FR3FEM FR5FEM
10588.0 FC4FEM FC8 FC8FEM FC0FEM FR2FEM FR3FEM FR5FEM FR7FEM
10899.0 FC4 FC1FEM002 FC6FEM002 FC0FEM002
11108.0 FC0FEM008
12129.0 FC1FEM002 FC6FEM002 FC0FEM002 C4M F2H (Unknown DoD Tri-Graphs)
12164.0 C4M (Unknown DoD Tri-Graph)
13446.0 FC6FEM FC8 FR7FEM
13894.0 FC1FEM002
14450.0 FC6FEM FR7FEM
14776.0 FC6FEM FC8 FC8FEM
14885.0 FC6FEM
15708.0 FC6FEM
15840.0 FC6FEM002 FC8

Multi-day FEMA Exercise Will Be Conducted Next May

We have received intel that there will be a big multi-day FEMA exercise next May 2011 involving four FEMA regions and eight states. I hope to have more information and frequencies at sometime in the future on this story.

FEMA administrator visits Hurricane Hunters

A WC-130J Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunters flies a mission. The Air Force Reserve squadron is part of the 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The data collected by the Hurricane Hunters increases the accuracy of the National Hurricane Center Forecast by 30 percent. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Tech. Sgt. James B. Pritchett)

by Senior Airman Kimberly Erickson, 403rd Wing Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- Craig Fugate, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, visited the Air Force Reserve Command's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron April 29 to address hurricane preparedness as the June 1 storm season approaches.

"The Air Force does a lot for FEMA," Mr. Fugate said in an address to the 53rd WRS Hurricane Hunters. "(You're) part of the Department of Defense team that supports us as we support the needs of state and local government."

Response by emergency management services, such as FEMA, is directly affected by the weather data the Hurricane Hunters collect to increase forecasting accuracy, Mr. Fugate said.

"From the standpoint of FEMA, the better the forecast is, the better the decisions we make, particularly when it comes to evacuation decision making," he said.

Evacuation practices in that critical decision-making response time ultimately affect how a community responds to natural disaster, Mr. Fugate said.

"The National Hurricane Center can give a much more accurate forecast with the data these aircraft provide," he said of the WC-130J Hercules, "to the point where the NHC can give more lead times for hurricane warnings and watches by a factor of over 12 hours."

Mr. Fugate said that benefiting from better forecasting hinges on community preparedness.

"No matter how good the forecast is, if people aren't ready and aren't prepared, you can't change the outcome," he said.

"People will always want to know how many hurricanes will happen," Mr. Fugate said. "The question is, are you ready for the hurricane that may threaten your community?"

For those supporting emergency management, making sure their families are ready is critical to allowing the focus to be on taking care of American citizens in their time of need, he said.

Extending that approach to the community can affect the outcome of natural disaster.

"Going into hurricane season, everyone needs to plan like their community could be affected," Mr. Fugate said.

During his tour of the 53rd WRS, he said it's the people who operate the equipment, not just the equipment, who make the mission.

"We focus on the aircraft and facilities on these tours, but it's the dedication and hard work of these folks that allow them to provide the data they collect when they're looking at forecast models," Mr. Fugate said.

Over the past 20 years, that data has resulted in a reduction of average forecasting time from five days to 72 hours.

In addition to stressing the importance of hurricane preparedness, Mr. Fugate spoke about the roots of the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter mission.

"I was impressed that Mr. Fugate was as knowledgeable and well versed about our background as he was," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Talbot, a veteran 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer. "If you don't understand something, you can't make recommendations for how to make it better in the future, and his understanding further solidified my belief of his interest in the future of our mission."

"No one knows how many hurricanes or missions the Hurricane Hunters will fly this year," Mr. Fugate said. "But we do know that without them, we would not have the most accurate forecast the hurricane center could give us."

Hawaii National Guard, FEMA Teams to Assist American Samoa

By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON - In response to Federal Emergency Management Agency requests, National Guard assets from Hawaii continue to provide air-cargo operations and other support to tsunami victims on American Samoa, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters here today.

Support requested by American Samoa authorities includes power-generation equipment, medical supplies, food, water and shelter-support, including bedding and blankets, Whitman said.

"We'll continue to do that for some time," Whitman told reporters, noting nearly 100 Hawaii National Guard personnel are involved in airlift and humanitarian-relief operations for American Samoa.

An 8.4 magnitude earthquake struck near the Samoa Islands region Sept. 29, causing devastating 15-to-20-foot-high waves to cascade inland across the South Pacific archipelago, including the eastern side of American Samoa, a U.S. possession.

FEMA, which maintains well-stocked warehouses in Guam and Honolulu, is deploying resources to American Samoa, including water and meals, to support 70,000 survivors over the coming week.

Two C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes departed Hawaii today en route to American Samoa with FEMA members, food and water, and mortuary-affairs assets aboard, Whitman said. Another C-17 is slated to leave Hawaii for American Samoa later today, he added, carrying more equipment and supplies.

The first of four C-17 relief flights to American Samoa left Hawaii yesterday afternoon, Whitman said, carrying medical, search-and-rescue, and communications personnel, as well as supplies and equipment.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell yesterday outlined some of the infrastructure for the effort.

"We are providing Travis Air Force Base in California, Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii [and] Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as base support installations," he said. "These are basically staging areas for operations to provide aid and assistance to those in American Samoa. We're going to be providing medical triage, [hazardous materials] response, mass-casualty care and strategic airlift. That's what the focus at the outset will be of our assistance."

The Navy yesterday dispatched the frigate USS Ingraham to assist humanitarian-relief efforts in American Samoa. The Ingraham was in the region when the tsunami struck.

U.S. military personnel also are assisting relief efforts in the Philippines, which has experienced massive flooding.

National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)

For our readers who are HF Government monioring enthusiasts:

National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) is scheduled for July 27 through July 31, 2009. NLE 09 will be the first major exercise conducted by the United States government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery.

NLE 09 is designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise. Tier I exercises (formerly known as the Top Officials exercise series or TOPOFF) are conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), which serves as the nation's overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises. The NEP was established to provide the U.S. government, at all levels, exercise opportunities to prepare for catastrophic crises ranging from terrorism to natural disasters.

NLE 09 is a White House directed, Congressionally- mandated exercise that includes the participation of all appropriate federal department and agency senior officials, their deputies, staff and key operational elements. In addition, broad regional participation of state, tribal, local, and private sector is anticipated. This year the United States welcomes the participation of Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom in NLE 09.

EXERCISE FOCUS

NLE 09 will focus on intelligence and information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement communities, and between international, federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector participants.

The NLE 09 scenario will begin in the aftermath of a notional terrorist event outside of the United States, and exercise play will center on preventing subsequent efforts by the terrorists to enter the United States and carry out additional attacks. This scenario enables participating senior officials to focus on issues related to preventing terrorist events domestically and protecting U.S. critical infrastructure.

NLE 09 will allow terrorism prevention efforts to proceed to a logical end (successful or not), with no requirement for response or recovery activities.

NLE 09 will be an operations-based exercise to include: activities taking place at command posts, emergency operation centers, intelligence centers and potential field locations to include federal headquarters facilities in the Washington D.C. area, and in federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector facilities in FEMA Region VI, which includes the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and California.

EXERCISE OBJECTIVES

Through a comprehensive evaluation process, the exercise will assess prevention and protection capabilities both nationally and regionally. Although NLE 09 is still in the planning stages, the exercise is currently designed to validate the following capabilities:

•Intelligence/Information Sharing and Dissemination
•Counter-Terrorism Investigation and Law Enforcement
•Air, Border and Maritime Security
•Critical Infrastructure Protection
•Public and Private Sector Alert/Notification and Security Advisories
•International Coordination

VALIDATING THE HOMELAND SECURITY SYSTEM

Exercises such as NLE 09 are an important component of national preparedness, helping to build an integrated federal, state, tribal, local and private sector capability to prevent terrorist attacks, and rapidly and effectively respond to, and recover from, any terrorist attack or major disaster that occurs.

The full-scale exercise offers agencies and jurisdictions a way to test their plans and skills in a real-time, realistic environment and to gain the in-depth knowledge that only experience can provide. Participants will exercise prevention and information sharing functions that are critical to preventing terrorist attacks. Lessons learned from the exercise will provide valuable insights to guide future planning for securing the nation against terrorist attacks, disasters, and other emergencies.

FEMA National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)

A big U.S. federal government exercise sponsored by FEMA is scheduled for the end of July. It may offer some interesting monitoring opportunties nationwide throughout the radio spectrum. I have complete details on our sister blog, the BTown Monitoring Post at
http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/2009/06/fema-national-level-exercise-2009-nle.html.

FEMA Chief, Northcom General Cite Military's Hurricane Response Role

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill, Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON - The National Guard is essential to hurricane response, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told lawmakers here last week.

W. Craig Fugate, FEMA administrator, and Army Maj. Gen. Frank Grass, U.S. Northern Command's director of operations, testified June 4 before an ad hoc disaster-response subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"The National Guard is a key component of any state governor's ability to respond to a variety of disasters," Fugate said. "They are a force multiplier for the ... state responders. [The National Guard] is a key component of our national defense strategy."

Fugate said one of the first things he did after he was sworn in May 19 was to meet with Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

"We have a very strong statewide mutual aid system under [the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, and] we leverage that with the National Guard," Fugate said.

The National Guard and Northcom stand ready to support civil authorities in the 2009 hurricane season, which began June 1, Grass said.

The National Guard is "the first responders in support of [civil authorities] and the governor, so they're going to be there first," Grass told the subcommittee. "It behooves us at Northcom to understand their capability and look at their response times, because if they're successful at the local level, that's less federal assets we have to put forward."

National Guard, Northcom and FEMA leaders were joined by state and county officials at a hurricane workshop in South Carolina earlier this year, Grass told lawmakers.

"We walked through ... how the locals would be responding, how the state would respond [and] then the National Guard gave us a lay-down by state of where their shortfalls were," Grass said. "Then FEMA came in and explained what capabilities it may be requesting.

"The biggest shortfall this current hurricane season," he continued, "probably is in the brigade structure of the National Guard, because of the number of brigades deployed [overseas]. Even though it's a shortfall in certain regions, it's not a shortfall across the nation. It's a matter of reallocating forces, and the National Guard is working very closely ... with the state adjutants general to identify those forces that can fill those shortfalls."

Grass said a similar situation exists with helicopters, and that equipment from other regions can relieve a shortage in a particular state.

A third challenge is aeromedical evacuation, Grass said.

"We've improved greatly since last hurricane season on the ability to identify patients, ... move [them], how to receive them," he said. Defense and federal coordinating officers are working with local officials to improve communication before a storm.

Any hurricane response will be a joint effort by military forces supporting civilian authorities, Grass said.

"We've looked closely at the active component – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard – ... to see where their assets would be available," Grass said.

National Guard Bureau and Northcom leaders talk daily to coordinate efforts, Grass said in an interview after his testimony.

"Between Northern Command and NGB, we're all watching the continental United States and the states and territories," Grass said. "If we see something out there, ... we immediately make contact with each other."

NGB's command center and the North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northcom command center work together closely, and whenever National Guard forces are deployed domestically, "we're prepared to back them up," Grass said.

"The key point in this response – whether it's a local Guard unit or it's a federal force being called in because the governor said he has a shortfall – is that we're always in support of a civilian agency on the ground that needs help, and we owe it to the taxpayers – to our citizens – to use the best asset that we have the quickest."

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Grass was deputy director of the Army National Guard. He then served abroad in U.S. European Command, returning last year to take up his position at Northcom. That previous hurricane experience, plus his time abroad, has given him a perspective on the nation's current hurricane preparedness, he said.

"To see the changes, it's night and day," Grass said. "Northcom has matured. The Guard has matured in their relationships with the states and with Northern Command. Just the fact that today there are five reserve component general officers serving full time at Northern Command and there are three traditional Army Reserve and Air Guard and Army Guard generals serving at Northern Command – we have a much closer relationship than we have ever had. The FEMA administration has reached out to the interagency and to the Department of Defense.

"When you look at a total reserve force of over a million, and the National Guard at over 460,000 Army and Air Guardsmen," he continued, "there's no reason the National Guard Bureau can't make that response happen through [emergency management assistance compacts] – and we would be prepared from Northern Command to step in and help if there were gaps."

As is increasingly the case throughout the Defense Department, Northcom is a truly joint environment, Grass said.

"I don't care what uniform you wear or what component you're with," Grass said, "your No. 1 mission should be defense of the homeland and providing response capability to the citizens of the United States."

President Announces Declaration For The District Of Columbia

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The President today declared an emergency exists in the District of Columbia and ordered federal aid to supplement the District's response efforts in support of the 56th Presidential Inauguration. The declaration makes available funding and support for the purposes of ensuring the District of Columbia and the federal government are optimally prepared and postured to respond to the 56th Presidential Inauguration, beginning on January 17 through January 21.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to provide appropriate assistance for certain emergency protective measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act. FEMA will also be authorized and prepared to coordinate any necessary response efforts, should an emergency arise. Specifically, assistance is available to the District for emergency protective measures that are undertaken to save lives and protect public health and safety. Direct Federal assistance, at 100 percent federal funding will be provided during the period of January 17-21, 2009, and reimbursement of emergency protective measures (Category B), under the Public Assistance program, at 100 percent federal funding for work performed on January 20, 2009. FEMA will reimburse for eligible emergency protective measures performed on January 20, 2009, only if the District has expended on the Presidential Inauguration during the period of January 17-21, 2009, the $15 million appropriated to it for "Emergency Planning and Security Costs" by the Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2009, P.L. 110-329.

FEMA Administrator David Paulison named Donald L. Keldsen the federal coordinating officer for federal coordination operations in the District of Columbia.

The Presidential Inauguration has been designated as a National Security Special Event (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA's role is to be prepared to respond to a natural disaster, acts of terrorism and other man-made disasters.

FEMA is also taking the following actions to support the 56th Presidential Inauguration.

* FEMA has activated its National Response Coordination Center and Regional Response Coordination Center for FEMA Region III ;

* FEMA's National Incident Management Assistance Team - East has been activated; and

* More than 200 highly trained FEMA employees are supporting the Inauguration at multiple designated locations.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

FEMA Shows up on COTHEN - ALE Addresses

Mark Cleary checked in this morning with a bit more info on yesterday's blog post on FEMA operating on the COTHEN network.

From Mark, "I've seen a gradual increase in FEMA activity on the COTHEN network in the past year. I've noticed FEMA stations became active on the network during the last two significant weather events in the southeastern United States, Tropical Storm Ernesto, and the major storm that blew through the Carolinas in November. This past weekend some new stations appeared conducting phone patches via the Customs Service Center to emergency management EOCs in South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama. Perhaps we may see some operational FEMA traffic on the network the next time a hurricane makes landfall in the southeast."

Mark passes along these FEMA ALE station addresses he has monitored on the COTHEN network this year:

014FEM FEMA Station WGY9014
019FEM FEMA Station WGY9019
034FEM FEMA Station WGY9034
437FEMAUX FEMA Auxiliary
AL4 FEMA WGY954, Alabama EOC, Montgomery, AL
AL4FMA FEMA WGY954, Alabama EOC, Montgomery, AL
FC4 FEMA WGY904 Region 4, Thomasville, GA
FM1 FEMA Station working USCGC DILIGENCE during TS Ernesto
FP4FEM001 FEMA Station during TS Ernesto
FP4PFEM001 FEMA Station during TS Ernesto
FR4FMA FEMA Station, voice callsign "WGY9024 Region 4, Atlanta"
SC4FMA FEMA Region 4, South Carolina EOC

Thanks to Mark for this update on FEMA operating on COTHEN. And remember if you have something to share with the blog and our readers, please send it along to larryvanhorn @ monitoringtimes.com.