Major accident response exercise prepares Airmen for the worst

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Richard Williams
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  Emergency responders were tested on their ability to neutralize a fuel spill during a worst case scenario training and evaluation exercise, Oct. 13-14.

The exercise, conducted by Spectra Tech Ensafe, a contractor with the Defense Logistics Agency, tested the action, response and cleanup capabilities of emergency responders during a simulated fuel spill of more than two million gallons following a tornado touching down and tearing a fuel tank apart.

"We work through a walk-through exercise to evaluate what the first responders will do and how all the emergency responders will operate in an effort to maximize our response actions for these types of situations should they occur," said Lt. Col. Mitchell Maddox, 55th Mission Support Group deputy commander.

If a large event like this were to take place, the base would begin by assembling its emergency operations center, explained Colonel Maddox.

"The EOC is stood up and key members of the base community are brought together to better facilitate the issues and orchestrate the cleanup effort for an event such as this one," he said.

Colonel Maddox, who was the EOC commander for this exercise, said another important mission of the EOC is to filter information from the on-scene commander through key players from all major base agencies and paint a picture of what is happening so base leadership can make educated decisions on how to proceed during any critical situation.
"We manage these types of exercises for DLA at 65 sites worldwide," said Mr. Jim Rathbone, an emergency management specialist with Spectra Tech Ensafe. "Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, if you store more than one million gallons of fuel petroleum, oil and lubricant products, you are required to have a facility response plan and accomplish annual training which involves classroom time, a tabletop exercise and equipment deployment."

Mr. Rathbone, a veteran of numerous real-world emergency management plan implementations, said the most important thing they can do during training is to reinforce the fact that this type of event could happen.

"Everyone always thinks, 'This could never happen to me,'" said Mr. Rathbone. "Well the possibilities may be less than 0.1 percent that it will happen, but when it does you better have a plan in place and be ready to respond."

Colonel Maddox agreed, adding the importance of the planning process.

"This is a great opportunity for us to make sure our procedures are in place and work," he said. "If we see a need to change things or room for improvement we can make adjustments now verses adjusting on the fly if this type of thing happened in a real-world scenario.

"This type of exercise is another good opportunity for us to work together as a team," added Colonel Maddox. "It also ensures we are being good stewards in the community and accomplishing our goals which are to save lives, protect our resources and assets, and take care of the environment, with assistance from our community partners if necessary."

"Although this is a legal obligation," Mr. Rathbone explained, "It becomes a moral and ethical obligation to ensure an area is left better than it was found."

"One of the most important things is that the 55th Wing really cares about being prepared for this type of scenario and wants to be a good neighbor and that helps," Mr. Rathbone added.