EPLOs move in place to support hurricane efforts
As Hurricane Gustav nears landfall, Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers from all over the nation have been brought in to help.
EPLOs from as far away as Alaska have moved into place in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama to coordinate military assets to support civil authorities.
Lt. Col. Kelly Carmen, an Alaska-assigned EPLO, is in place in New Orleans supporting the aeromedical evacuation efforts. Along with Lt. Col. Carmen, two other EPLOs, Col. Jeff Theulen from Nebraska, and Lt. Col. Steve Flanagan from Hawaii, are deployed to the state.
In El Paso, Texas, EPLO Col. Andy Anderson is serving at the Federal Coordination Center, helping to find hospitals that have the room to shelter evacuated patients.
Col. Linc Larson is deployed to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., where responders are preparing to receive outbound evacuees from the Gulf Coast, as well as inbound support from across the nation.
Several EPLOs have deployed here to help coordinate emergency preparedness activities nationwide, including possible support for Tropical Storm Hanna.
“With another storm on the rise behind Gustav, two liaison officers are at the FEMA Headquarters in Atlanta,” said Col. Michael Hare, Air Forces Northern Emergency Preparedness Agency director.
Working with officers from the Navy, Marines and Army, these EPLOs respond to civilian requests for assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
EPLOs are geographically assigned to each state and the 10 FEMA Regional Coordination Centers. The officers come from a wide range of career fields including air operations, logistics, medical, security forces, and public affairs.
AFNORTH Hurricane Hunters on the move for Gustav & Hanna
Eight Hurricane Hunters with five crews on three missions are deployed to assess the severity of conditions of Hurricane Gustav, with one Hurricane Hunter deployed to prepare for Tropical Storm Hanna.
The Hurricane Hunters are Air Force WC-130J aircraft deployed to support Gustav from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and now from Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., to predict the path of Hurricane Gustav.
“Hurricane Hunters currently anticipate and determine surface conditions of the expected landfall area,” said Master Sgt. John Williams, operations duty officer at Tyndall’s 601st Air and Space Operations Center.
Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow, the Joint Forces Air Component Commander at Tyndall for Air Forces Northern maintains tactical control and visibility of the Hurricane Hunters for coordination during contingencies.
“The Hurricane Hunters deploy for each major storm to measure vertical atmospheric profile of the temperature, humidity and barometric pressure and wind data ahead of the storm,” said Sergeant Williams.
According to Williams, an instrument called a Global Positioning Dropsonde Windfinding system is dropped 10,000 ahead of the hurricane to take readings and relay those readings to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., which increases the accuracy of hurricane predictions by approximately 30 percent.
“Hurricane season gainfully employs the Hurricane Hunters flying current missions over Guam, the Gulf and Atlantic and provides hurricane data to agencies that need it the most,” he said.
The National Hurricane Center feeds the information to the National Weather Service. Civilian and federal organizations use the data collected by the Hurricane Hunters to get keep the public informed with the latest information.
The Hurricane Hunters are temporarily operating out of Homestead Air Reserve Base, but they call the 53rd Fighter Wing at Keesler AFB home.
While actively supporting Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna, this month the Hurricane Hunters have also flown missions into Tropical Storm Fay, Tropical Storm Edouard and Hurricane Dolly.
AFNORTH assisting with Gustav MedEvac
Air Forces Northern here is coordinating with numerous civilian and government agencies in Texas and Louisiana to assist with the evacuation of critical-care patients in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav’s landfall.
AFNORTH is providing U.S. Northern Command with visibility on all Air Force assets available for medical evacuation such as Mobile Aero-Medical Staging Facilities, already in place at Beaumont, Texas., Lake Charles, La., and Lake Front, La.
These MASFs provide the ability to receive, process, and support patients awaiting aeromedical evacuation by Air Force aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III or C-130 Hercules.
“We are using a total force team of active, Guard and Reserve forces to assist these critically-ill citizens evacuate to safety,” said Maj. Gen Hank Morrow, AFNORTH commander. “We allow the NORTHCOM commander to effectively utilize all assets available to mitigate human suffering and prevent the loss of life.”
USNORTHCOM is working closely with local, state, and federal medical authorities to identify where the need is greatest.
The MASFs and patient evacuations will continue until the airports are closed for Gustav’s landfall.
