News Media Invited to Cover National Guard WMD Response Training

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Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Michael Rider receives instruction for his team in the hot zone while training in Oriskany May 01, 2014. Photo by Senior Master Sgt. Ray Lloyd.

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (11/13/2014)(readMedia)-- Members of the news media are invited to cover the training of more than 375 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen as they train at the Erie County Emergency Services Training and Operations Center as a regional disaster response force.

A significant portion of the response force command element, decontamination team and extraction force are based in Western New York.

The organization, known as a National Guard Homeland Response Force, will train both at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Center and the Cheektowaga Emergency Training Center to enhance their readiness to assist responders following a Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear incident.

WHAT: Training of National Guard chemical, biological and radiological response forces.

WHO: More than 375 Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard Homeland Response Force for Federal Emergency Management Agency Region II.

WHERE: Erie County Emergency Services Training and Operations Center, 3359 Broadway - Cheektowaga NY 14227

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Friday, November 14, 2014.

Media Coverage Opportunity:

Visual imagery of National Guard response forces in hazardous material protective gear conducting training to extract, decontaminate and triage casualties of a potential CBRN incident.

For access to this training site, news reporters must contact New York National Guard Col. Richard Goldenberg, 518-727-7314.

BACKGROUND

The National Guard Homeland Response Force

The Homeland Response Force for FEMA Region II is one of ten units established by the Department of Defense to assist state officials and local first responders in dealing with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks and incidents across the United States.

The 10 HRFs align with each Federal Emergency Management Agency region to allow for closer and more familiar contact with civilian responders. The National Guard forces also provide a greater responsiveness to local authorities due to their closer geographical locations.

The Region II Homeland Response Force directly supports New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Soldiers and Airmen will train on searching for and extracting victims of a notional incident while wearing hazardous materials suits, decontaminate those victims if needed, and conduct basic medical triage to assist first responders and health officials.

The major units that comprise the HRF include:

• The 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Headquarters, based in Syracuse, N.Y. provides overall command and control of the force.

• The 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry Headquarters, based in Niagara Falls, N.Y., provides command of the CBRN response elements at the incident site.

• Engineers of Company A, 427th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, located in Rochester, N.Y., who train for the extraction and evacuation of casualties.

• Company D, 427th Brigade Support Battalion, based in Buffalo, N.Y., which operates the decontamination element.

• The air wings of the New York Air National Guard, including Niagara Falls' 107th Airlift Wing and the Scotia-based 105th Airlift Wing and 106th Rescue Wing from Westhampton Beach on Long Island contribute medical personnel for the triage and transfer of casualties for civilian medical treatment.

Imagery of recent unit training including the 2014 validation exercise can be found at the New York National Guard Flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nyng/sets/72157644419973192/with/14080385802/

The Erie County Emergency Services Training and Operations Center

The Erie County Fire Safety Division operates from the Emergency Services Training & Operations Center in Cheektowaga, N.Y. The facility is in operation an average of 14 hours a day, six days a week and hosted over 1,200 training events in 2013.

The Fire Safety Division serves as a resource center for the County's 97 fire departments, operating the Cheektowaga facility and two other field training centers in Amherst and Orchard Park where some 4,000 fire fighters train annually.

The Fire Safety Office provides coordination to the county fire departments through the training and preparation of firefighters to meet the requirements of their job and needs of their customers - the residents, businesses and visitors to Erie County's towns and villages.