New England Teams Train for Disaster

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AUGUSTA, ME (05/08/2015)(readMedia)-- A train full of passengers headed to Providence, Rhode Island is attacked by an unknown terrorist cell. Hundreds of individuals are injured and displaced within the wreckage. First responders notice damage to a chemical warehouse storage facility, and chlorine gas is leaking at the wreckage site. After they survey the area, they report their findings to the incident commander, who determines they need to call in the CERF-P.

The CERFP-P or Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive, or CBRNE, Enhanced Response Force Package is an additional emergency response force designed to respond when situations are too large or too hazardous for local agencies, especially in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident, or certain natural disasters that may cause significant strain on the local authorities.

The New England CERF-P team is comprised of National Guard Soldiers from three different states, who came together in Quonset, Rhode Island in May to train on a series of collective exercises meant to test their capabilities and limitations.

Spc. Juan Saucedo, an engineer with the 861st Engineer Company, Rhode Island Army National Guard, is one of the members of the search and extraction team. Once his team is notified that the CERF-P has been activated, they have six hours to arrive and get connected to the local first responders.

As a member of the search and extraction team, Saucedo, who went in with the first recon team to search the train and help identify victims, is prepared for any situation. He and his team have been trained to dig through rubble using jack hammers and shovels and work to rescue anyone who may have still been in a building during its demise. His team's mission is to go in after all of the potential hazards have been identified and collect all of the survivors.

"We are designed to respond to a number of things," said the West Warwick native. "Here in New England we are really centered around anything that could collapse, such as buildings, parking structures, bridges, while also remaining ready to respond to any sort of natural disasters that could require a search element."

In the fall of 2014, CERF-P teams in Washington were called in to aide with the mudslides. The search and extraction teams had to go in and find people who had been buried alive in mud and sludge. Even though they were covered in mud, the individuals still went through a decontamination process to get them cleaned up and identify any potential injuries, and then treated by the medical teams.

"This week we are focusing on threats to rail systems and ports," said Saucedo. "Being that we have a lot of coastal areas, and a lot of rail transit, these are likely places for a disaster to potentially take place. It is good for us to learn and train for the environment we may face."

Cpt. Todd Abbott, with the 521st Troop Command, Maine Army National Guard serves as a branch chief for the CERF-P team. Currently the 521st provides the CERF-P with their command and control element.

"All the CERFP's are designed to be multi-agency," said Abbott, who lives in Arundel, Maine. "But we are the only I know of that is multi-state as well. Being spread across three states gives us access to additional resources, as well as improving our timed response. Because we have people coming from all over, we are able to respond to any situation in all of our area, within six hours of being notified."

Each CERF-P is comprised of a mission command team, a medical team, a search and extraction/recovery team and a decontamination team.

"All of the teams conduct training that is geared towards their core skills year-round," said Abbott. "At least twice a year we come together as a region, as a collective issue to work through whole scenarios. We want to be trained and ready, always up to date and prepared in all of our skills, as individuals and as a whole."

Each team has a role to play in the scenario, just as if it were a real event. Working through the rail yard where the train was derailed, each team was able to see their training put to practice and make smooth transitions as they moved through the different processes. The search and rescue team works closely with the decontamination team, who then works closely with the medical team; and they all have to communicate information back to the command center.

Many of the servicemembers said they were happy to be taking part in the larger exercise. Staff Sgt. Raymond Chan is a fire protection specialist with the 143rd Civil Engineer Squadron, Rhode Island Air National Guard and serves as a member of the decontamination team along with soldiers from the New Hampshire Army National Guard.

"This is great refresher training for people who haven't done this recently, or to this scale, or at all," said Chan, who monitored individuals coming through the decontamination tents after they had been washed and scrubbed to make sure they no longer showed any signs of the chemical hazards. "We get very proficient on our piece of the puzzle that we forget how to work with the other pieces. We are being reminded of that here today and how important that communication piece really is. We will be back up to speed quickly."

The search and extraction team received new suits for their mission recently, suits that the decontamination team wasn't familiar with. In this training environment, they had the chance to work together to learn about the new suits and how it affects some of the standard procedures for everyone, said Chan who lives and works in Boston.

Not only were there new suits, but the 521st brought along a Joint Interoperability Site Communications team that helps with the communication needs of the mission. A six man team comprised of members from the 265th Combat Communications Squadron, Maine Air National Guard, they help establish radio frequencies, set up infrastructure and manage cyber communications. Michael Wallace recently joined the team assigned to the task of CERF-P and said that while it has had its challenges, the event has provided him with useful information.

"This is a good use of our time overall," said Wallace, who is also a graduate student living in Portland. "It helps to work with units that aren't in your day-to-day sphere, better than being your own customer. You can't anticipate what someone is going to ask of you. So we are trying to get out of the box in our own training, it is nice to have someone from the outside ask us for something and help us find what we are or were missing."

Abbott said that the joint exercises help the different teams develop relationships with one another and build trust and rapport. While the New England CERF-P has not been called for an active situation, other CERF-P's have been deployed to aid in hurricane recovery, blizzard clean up, and most recently, mudslides. While Abbott said that he hopes New England never finds themselves in a crisis that would require the support of the CERF-P, he is confident that his team is ready and prepared to respond if they ever do get that call.