Photo By Richard Bumgardner | U.S. Army Col. Calvin Kroeger, Fort Worth District commander, recently met with Corps...... read more read more
FORT WORTH, Texas – In August of 2023, a little over one year ago, devastating wildfires swept through the small tropical towns of Kula and Lahaina, Hawaiʻi, setting the stage for a mission unlike anything the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fort Worth District has ever seen.
Once the scope of the disaster was realized, USACE was mission assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the National Response Framework, as Emergency Support Function #3, which regulates public works and engineering support for a natural or manmade disaster.
For emergency operational response, USACE initially relies on personnel from the district geographically responsible under their regional authorities. But as most major disaster missions have tremendous manpower requirements, which can overwhelm local districts, USACE utilizes a rotational system of districts responsible for providing specific engineering, construction, and technical support to the FEMA mission.
For the wildfires mission, Fort Worth District was tasked to support the massive debris removal mission in August 2023.
“That tragic event happened right after I took command of the district,” said Col. Calvin Kroeger, the Fort Worth District commander. “Within four days of the wildfires we had our subject matter experts and senior leadership on the ground, starting to assess the complexity of the mission we were given.”
The Fort Worth team physically began debris removal at Kula in November 2023, and Lahaina in January 2024, but it took a lot of hard work by everyone involved to set the conditions for that to even happen.
“Once we were able to understand the operating environment with FEMA, we were able to apportion the workforce based on the requirements,” Kroeger said. “Our biggest lesson learned was the cultural aspect of the debris removal mission. To better understand that we had an amazing team of cultural resource advisors and support staff that enabled our efforts for Maui at the local, state and national level.”
To date the Fort Worth District team has deployed over 190 Fort Worth personnel, both Department of Army active-duty military and civilians, to lead removal efforts of fire-damaged debris from areas across Maui.
Brian Brandt, a resident engineer from Fort Worth District, was one of the first to survey the scene and plan debris removal efforts.
“The mission posed several unique challenges that increased the complexities to the mission,” said Brandt. “Not only the cultural and archaeological considerations but identifying a space to build a Temporary Debris Storage site proved difficult with the environmental sensitivities of the historic and beautiful island. Once identified, gaining approval required cooperation from federal, state, county, and local cultural leaders.
Through public engagement and transparency, the USACE team designed and built a one-of-a-kind temporary debris storage site in less than six weeks to ensure a timely cleanup for the people of Lahaina.”
District personnel were primarily deployed to support the Emergency Field Office, which manages the actual day-to-day efforts of debris removal. They have also been deployed to support the Joint Field Office, which acts as a temporary federal multiagency coordination center, and a Recovery Field Office, which is considered a temporary USACE district, localized for recovery efforts.
Initial estimates were that the debris removal mission for residential properties alone would last more than a year, but the USACE team significantly beat that metric.
On August 29, 2024, the final residential site - out of 1390 home sites when the team started - was cleared of fire debris, a significant accomplishment. The team’s focus now shifts to commercial sites, with 62 percent of commercial sites cleared.
Kroeger visited the Planning and Response Team for debris removal at the Emergency Field Office in Lahaina, to express his appreciation for their hard work and dedication, and to get an assessment of the current conditions on the ground.
“I am extremely proud of the entire team, that were resourced and mobilized from across the Fort Worth team, who stepped up and responded to this disaster,” Kroeger said. “I want to give a special thank you to those at home in Texas and Louisiana who continue to shoulder the extra workload while many of our Fort Worth teammates are forward supporting this critical mission. Without their support back here in Texas, this national response mission would not be successful.”
Kroeger went on to say that he felt this mission in Maui was one of the most complex missions that USACE has been part of in the past century, if not the past 249 years of the Corps of Engineers’ history.
As Kroeger and district employees attended the 1-year remembrance ceremonies held to honor those lost during the wildfires, a common Hawaiian expression of Mahalo, or thank you, was often heard when speaking about the impact of the USACE mission.
The extra team effort to complete this difficult mission, on time and in a culturally respectful manner, will benefit and strengthen the community for years to come.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.28.2024 10:40 |
| Story ID: | 482032 |
| Location: | LAHAINA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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