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We’re Going On A Trip…

…In our favorite rocket ship, er, field communications unit. It’s moving day today for the gang and other TERT teams, as they bid farewell to their initial quarters near a school, and head down the road about 15 minutes to a FEMA dormitory trailer camp that also provides a hot meal, and (in theory) a hot shower, a first in 2 weeks for some of the team. This is meant as a joint base for TERT and other out-of-state personnel operating in the region (public safety, public works, support services). HAVOC-1 is able to continue to operate as it was as the previous location, as both a command center for our staff, and a 311 center for Bumcombe County. Personnel are continuing on 12-hour shifts aboard HAVOC, and in the Buncombe County PSCC as well. It’s been reported that operations continued aboard HAVOC while they were moving. This may be the first recorded case of call taking while in motion!

Final logistics arrangements are nearing completion for OH-2, who will rally in Cambridge Monday evening for an early departure Tuesday morning. A 3 person logistics crew from within the Committee will take down a fresh crew of 10 (TERT OH-2) and associated supplies on Tuesday morning, and return Wednesday afternoon with TERT OH-1 and the supply trailer and large tent went initially went down with them.

This is easily the largest and most complex deployment in our team’s history. The personnel who have or will soon deploy, the support team back in Ohio, and the Committee writ large have all worked literally every day, around the clock, since late September, on this mission. We are incredibly thankful to everyone on Ohio TERT, of course. And, we acknowledge the support of the Ohio APCO and NENA chapter Boards. We are equally as thankful to the agencies that have allowed their personnel to deploy, to the companies and businesses who have lent assistance, and to the family and friends of the team, who have sacrafised their loved ones and kept things moving on the homefront. This lift has been and will continue to be very much a team effort. As we approach a ‘shift change’ and the halfway point of our deployment, we remain focused on the mission at hand: to help our Brothers and Sisters in Western North Carolina and the communities they protect.

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It Takes A Village

The personnel from Ohio TERT are doing tremendous work in taxing and difficult circumstances. The folks of Western North Carolina have a long, long road ahead, and we feel honored to have the opportunity to provide assistance to our Brothers and Sisters and their community.

Reinforcements from Medina Co SO

Sending a team to operate on an operation like this is most definitely a team effort. Back in Ohio, the oversight committee has been working to support the forward operating personnel, and we’ve been humbled by the support received from agencies across our state. Last week, we wrote about the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and their delivery of goods. Today, a similar delivery of goodies came from our colleagues at the Medina County Sheriff’s Office. Water, food, clean-up supplies, and buckets were all a welcomed sight. We offer our kind thanks to Sheriff Terry Grice and the Medina County Sheriff’s Office staff for their kindness and support.

 

Committee Member Candie Cunningham and Jillian from R&R Identification

We’ve also relied on the efforts and grace of several businesses throughout Ohio as well. Vehicle rental companies, grocery stores, auto parts stores, outdoor adventures sales, and uniform companies. We’d be remiss if we didn’t gratefully acknowledge Jillian, the owner of R&R Identification in Fremont. Jillian’s small business has been our official outfitter through (3) cycles of uniform orders. And, last week, when it became clear that we would need to press TERT-OH-2 into service, we needed additional shirts on the double. Enter Committee Member Candie Cunningham, who reached out to Jillian and R&R Identification, to see if they could do a partial order on the fly. Not only did R&R get us a few shirts, they completed the nearly (100) piece order in just 4 days. To say we were floored would be an understatement. But throughout this deployment, we have been humbled to see that, in our hyper-partisan society, helping a community in need still binds us.

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Buncombe County PSCC: Through Their Eyes

There’s nothing we have to say about today’s operational period that is more important than the hearing Buncombe County Public Safety Communications’ words to the community it protects:

“This is the Buncombe County Public Safety Communications Center as it stands right now.
In the midst of sadness, anger, and helplessness, we continue to show up. Our Communications Center has been active since the very beginning of the storm, and we want our community to know that we are steadfastly here for you. We are not just strangers in another state answering your calls; we are your neighbors, friends, and family. Together, we are enduring this struggle. We’ve been sleeping on floors, working tirelessly around the clock, and sharing in the same fears that you all feel.
We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support we’ve received from 911 TERT teams across the country—Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida—and dispatchers from all around, coming together to help in whatever way they can.
We just want to take a moment to remind you all that we are part of this community, and we feel your pain as you feel ours. But together, we will rebuild from this, and we will walk beside you every step of the way, just like the incredible people of these Mountains know how to do.
We love you all, and when you need us, we will be right here by your side.”
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Noah Ash

The team’s newest member has a name: Noah Ash, in honor of surviving the flooding and the City of Asheville, where he came to be a part of the team. His destination is still to be determined, but Noah Ash is in good health, and is most certainly helping to lift the spirits of the TERT teams, both from Ohio and other states as well.

Search and rescue operations in Buncombe County are continuing. It was reported that (14) USAR task forces or strike teams are operating in Western North Carolina. Wide area operations are believed to start wrapping up over the next day or two. Following that, specific missions will start to be issued for specific unaccounted for persons or areas that are in need of rescue.

The second mobile Tower on Wheels in the MARCS fleet is slated to depart Ohio tomorrow, also destined for greater Asheville.

We are monitoring conditions regarding Tropical Storm Milton. As yet, no decisions have been made. Committee Chair Nick DiCicco has been on the NJTI conference calls; it is expected more information will be available tomorrow.

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The Hurricane Hotline

HAVOC-1 is becoming the home of the Hurricane Hotline.

Yesterday, the crew manning the ‘Hurricane Hotline’ aboard HAVOC-1 took approximately 1,300 calls. Amongst 4-6 different dispatchers, that’s a brisk pace. In addition, the staff working in the Buncombe County PSCC are also taking calls at an extremely brisk pace. At the conference call tonight, Committee Chair Nick DiCicco said the call volume was down juuuuuust a bit today, but still quite high. Many areas of Buncombe County are still cut off by impassible roads. Response personnel from every acronym in  the disaster response alphabet are operating in the Blue Ridge Mountain region, including TERT teams from Ohio and several other states.

The crew from Ohio MARCS is continuing radio infrastructural work with radio programming and assisting their North Carolina VIPER counterparts. Today, they also repositioned the mobile Tower on Wheels approximately 200 feet further up a mountain, which has been incorporated for use as a repeater site on the VIPER network.

Personnel from Florida TERT are preparing to return home due the approaching Tropical Storm Milton, forecasted to cross South Florida as a potentially major hurricane next week. Meanwhile, the team now has reliable, secure access to showers and a laundry facility, welcomed luxuries on the operation.

Word has gone out to organizations across the State of Ohio of the need for additional public safety telecommunicators to assist with assembling TERT-OH-2. Interested personnel are encouraged to fill out an application on the Ohio TERT website. This second team is expected to depart Ohio on or about October 15th and return around Halloween.

The team are tired, but are doing great work.

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Reinforcements From Ohio

Operations are continuing at the Buncombe County PSCC. The Public Safety Communications Center, the back-up PSAP, and HAVOC-1 as a 311 center are all very busy. The teams are continuing 12ON-12OFF shift rotations. Additional personnel from Florida TERT are arriving, and work is continuing to coordinate a second team from Ohio to head down around the middle of the month.

Today, the team received a sizable delivery of goods from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, including 2 pallets of water, food, clothes and other essentials for Ohio TERT and the other TERT teams working at Buncombe County PSCC. Supplies are still rare commodities, so we are appreciative to Sheriff Jones, Captain Matt Franke, and others at the BCSO who coordinated this delivery.

Coordination work continues to get an TERT-OH-2 team assembled. Personnel interested in deploying should immediately fill out an application through the team website. To review, 2 years service, basic ICS classes, and EMD certification are all required for assignment. THIS IS A HARDSHIP ASSIGNMENT. Every governmental agency and NGO operating in Western North Carolina is operating under hardship conditions.

 

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A New Team Member; HAVOC-1 Gets to Work

The TERT teams from Ohio, Georgia, and Kentucky have split into equally staffed day and night shifts. Call volume remains extremely high; rescue operations are still underway in parts of Buncombe County, as well. Partial water service is being restored in very limited increments. The team now has access to shower facilities in the form of a mobile showering trailer.

HAVOC-1 has been placed in service as a center to field non-emergency and informational calls. This was made possible due to advanced programming by Motorola Systems that enabled HAVOC-1 telephone system to receive calls routed through the Buncombe County PSCC system and identified as informational inquiries. The apparatus has the ability to accommodate (6) call taker positions, and it is most certainly being put to work; inquiries are coming fast and furious.

This guy is staying at basecamp for now.

He is helping answer calls in HAVOC-1

While on a supply run to a local Publix, Johnna came across a liter of puppies that had weathered through Helene’s winds and flooding. The entire liter found homes quickly, save this one fellow. Keeping in mind TERT’s mission to provide any and all assistance, the little guy was taken back to basecamp, where he remains in our care. He has taken to the crew quickly, and following some training, will be put in rotation to start answering administrative calls aboard HAVOC-1.

We were informed officially today of the mission being extended for an additional (14) days. The team back in Ohio is working through Ohio EMA on modifying the EMAC MRP.

Committee Member Scott Brown did an interview with Cleveland Fox Affiliate WJW-TV this morning that can be viewed here.

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Stay Ahead of the Curve

Staying ahead of the curve is the name of the game thus far for Ohio TERT. The team arrived last night to their assigned quarters, at a nearby school with other TERT teams. Lights went out at 11PM. The lights came back on for the dispatchers at 05:30 (that’s oh-five-thirty, as in OMG, it’s early) for the entire team to report to the Buncombe County Public Safety Communications Center to get their badges, and receive training from offgoing Bumcombe County personnel. Ohio TERT is working at the center with their counterparts from Florida, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia. Tomorrow, a 9-person team from Alabama will also join. After receiving training, the dayshift started working in the center, and the nightshift crew returned to quarters to sleep.

We are appreciative and thankful for all of the donations received. These funds helped the team to deliver a significant amount of diapers and formula to Buncombe County personnel and their families, who had run out of such supplies days ago. With the funds received, Johana Gonzales-Sells, Ohio TERT’s resident camp counselor, will be making a 4-hour round trip journey to the nearest big box store every other day to purchase more supplies for Ohio TERT and Bumcombe County personnel.

HAVOC has been programmed to be able to receive non-emergency calls for Bumcombe County at the dispatch positions aboard the unit. If/when the decision is made to utilize this setup, HAVOC will have the ability to act as a primary 311 center to relieve some pressure on the call queue.

Our radio engineers from Ohio MARCS have been likewise getting down to business. Today’s venture saw them working with their North Carolina VIPER counterparts to assist with damage survey and repair at a mountaintop tower site, and working to deploy the Tower on Wheels they brought with them. They have also been provided appropriate Motorola programming credentials to assist with programming of out-of-state radios to work on the VIPER system.

At present, there is power, but no running water.

At tonight’s conference call, Committee Chair Nick DiCicco indicated that the probability of mission extension is very high, even with the multi-state TERT teams already working. Committee personnel back in Ohio have been compiling a tentative roster of personnel who may be able to deploy as TERT-OH-2 to support what is looking to become one of the largest disaster mobilizations so far this century.

 

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Have Arrived Safely in Asheville

The team departed Cambridge this morning at 6:30 and headed down Interstate 77 with an escort from the Ohio State Highway Patrol to the West Virginia state line. In total, the fleet consists of HAVOC (field communications unit), 3 SUV’s, 2 pickup trucks, a fuel trailer, a radio Tower On Wheels, a generator, and a supply trailer. While on route, the team received word from Buncombe County Public Safety Communications of the need for diapers and baby formula (we cannot imagine why babies don’t like MRE’s). So, the team stopped a couple time and purchased all the diapers and formula they could find.

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Ohio TERT arrived in Asheville around 7:00 and arrived at their assigned shelter facility at a school about an hour later. Personnel from Florida TERT are also there. At last report, the team was safe and establishing base camp.

 

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Briefing Complete; Outbound Tomorrow

Ohio TERT members met this afternoon at the rally point in Cambridge. The deployment team was met by logistics and support personnel, all of whom have been working to get to the point of deployment. Following invocation by Mark Beros of Stop Nine Church of Christ, Committee Chair Nick DiCicco provided an update to the team. At present, Ohio TERT, along with TERT teams from Florida, Kentucky, and Georgia will be assigned to Buncombe County Public Safety Communications. Reports of damage and supply shortages have been numerous, and breathtaking. The expectation is that telecommunications are still impacted, public utilities are compromised, and many routes still impassible. DiCicco instructed the dispatchers on the team to prepare for 12-16 hour shifts, and once initial training is complete, to be working with a 100% TERT crew from Ohio and other states while Buncombe County personnel get a much needed break.

The team also heard words of thanks from Ohio 911 Program Office Coordinator Patrick Brandt and Ohio DAS Deputy Director of First Responder Communications Initiatives Angela Canepa. The team will depart from Cambridge at 6:30 on Tuesday morning, with an Ohio State Highway Patrol escort to the West Virginia state line.

It is believed that the need for TERT personnel will continue beyond the initial 14 day deployment window. Public safety telecommunicators who are interested in deploying in the near term (this would be mid-October through the end of the month) should contact Committee Chair Nick DiCicco at Nick.DiCicco (at) cvdispatch (dot) com .

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