Homeland Response Forces train at Camp Roberts
Homeland Response Force trains at a mock disaster at Camp Roberts
Army and Air National Guard hone life saving, decontamination, medical and command operations
–The California National Guard Homeland Response Team (HRF) is conducting disaster evaluation exercises at Camp Roberts. The training activities started on Friday. Approximately 524 Army and Air National Guard are at Camp Roberts for an external evaluation exercise to hone the skills and operations needed following a chemical, biological, or nuclear incident. The exercise, running around the clock until Tuesday, includes life saving search and extraction, security, decontamination, medical treatment teams, and command operations.
Local residents hired as actors role play as the injured. Actors are recruited by IFF Data, a corporation specializing in recruiting and training locals to play the injured and traumatized for disaster exercises. To add realism, the actors wore makeup to simulate injuries. The role players during Saturday’s exercise exhibited wounds from scratches and bruises to catastrophic traumas.
A group of local role players representing the “walking wounded,” the first to be extracted from ground zero and moved to safety.
A tower surrounded by chunks of concrete, building rubble, protruding rebar, crushed and collapsed cars tossed under and on top of the debris and human bodies scattered about the rubble simulated an attack on Phoenix, Arizona involving nuclear radioactivity, mustard gas, and sarin gas. The operations are authentic including chaplains to help stressed and emotionally taxed HRF team members. Tents, vehicles, emergency medical equipment, decontamination equipment and gear, supplies, generators, lights and the command center are set up exactly as they would be staged during an actual mission.
A member of the HRF team being decontaminated after providing medical attention to a victim
The command center, set up a distance from the operations center, was fully equipped with communications equipment, laptops, projection screens, a variety of status boards being regularly updated by staff. The tented center accommodated the main operations room, a variety of other rooms dedicated to various functions that are necessary to support the entire operation.
The National Guard HRF teams were initiated by the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2010. The HRF teams were established in 10 states, each representing a geographical region within the United States and its territories. During emergency incidents, the HRFs would capitalize on the life-saving capabilities of the DoD’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) Consequence Management Response forces. The California HRF, headquartered in Fairfield, is comprised of several California National Guard elements drawn from across the 49th Military Police Brigade and the state’s Air National Guard. In California, the HRF is composed of nearly 600 highly trained personnel, all of whom have been validated by FEMA and Cal Guard leadership.
The operations room at the command center
“Homeland Response Forces are able to assemble and deploy within 4 to 12 hours to the incident site,” Public Affairs Officer Major Kimberly Holman said. “Once on scene, HRF personnel will conduct mission command, site security, search and extraction, decontamination, and medical triage in order to prevent loss of life and mitigate human suffering.”
Holman said that the California National Guard 49th Military Police Brigade is the headquarters unit for FEMA Region IX. The brigade and its subordinate HRF assets began planning and training for the Region IX HRF mission in March 2011. The state Adjutant General validated the brigade as a fully-capable HRF unit at the conclusion of its External Evaluation at Camp Roberts in March 2012.
The California HRF, headquartered in Fairfield, is comprised of several California National Guard elements drawn from across the 49th Military Police Brigade and the state’s Air National Guard. In California, the HRF is composed of nearly 600 highly trained personnel, all of whom have been validated by FEMA and Cal Guard leadership.
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