LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Team Langley's first responders will team up with NASA and the city of Hampton in a severe weather response field training exercise April 29.
The exercise is designed to test the readiness and response capabilities of emergency management agencies, including teams from the 633d Air Base Wing, 1st Fighter Wing, NASA and Hampton Fire Department. An exercise evaluation team will observe the processes to determine how effectively teams work together to secure the incident scene, provide casualty care and restore order following a tornado.
Fort Eustis will also participate alongside Langley in the exercise, having scheduled a hurricane exercise for the same day. As a result, the Joint Base Langley-Eustis emergency operations center will be activated early in the day, and responders will test communication between the two centers. NASA will also activate its' EOC for the event.
"The EOCs need to communicate in order to coordinate the response properly," said Senior Master Sgt. Michael Feckner, 1st Fighter Wing plans, programs and evaluations superintendent. "This event is designed to see how effectively all three centers work together."
Feckner said the Air Force requires installations to conduct yearly weather crisis response exercises to ensure multiple agencies achieve maximum interoperability in the event of severe weather.
"Traditionally we performed hurricane tabletop exercises, using projections from our weather teams to simulate a hurricane making landfall over our area," said Feckner. "Leadership required us to plan a field exercise this year, and we chose a tornado scenario because it allows us to work in real-time."
Unlike hurricanes, which can allow for several days of planning before landfall, tornadoes are much more sporadic, sometimes occurring nearly instantly, and provide a more realistic crisis scenario for responders.
"This experience needs to be as realistic as possible, considering it has happened in the area recently," Feckner said, referring to an April 2008 tornado that swept across nearby Suffolk, Va., causing more than $20 million in damage and leaving more than 200 injured.
"It's important to know that the threat of tornadoes in Hampton Roads exists," he added.
The exercise will simulate a tornado touching down and destroying the NASA-Langley entry control point, as well as damaging building 1352 before dissipating. Feckner said the exercise will feature several scenarios to challenge response teams, including casualties, natural gas leaks and roadway obstructions.
"One of our main goals is to make sure the different organizations can identify who the incident commander is," Feckner said. "In a chaotic situation like a tornado aftermath, it's critical to identify who is in command and responsible for the coordination of the rescue and recovery efforts."
The command post will utilize its' Emergency Management Notification System, warning sirens and "Giant Voice" system to communicate the simulated warnings across the base. However, all announcements will be preceded by exercise indicators, in order to identify the events as simulations.
The exercise will begin at noon and last approximately four hours. During the exercise, the NASA-Langley gate will be closed, and road access at Lee Road and Durand Loop will be limited.