PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – Soldiers, equipment and resources from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, moved into parts of Western North Carolina beginning Oct. 3, 2024, to assist the North Carolina National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the leading response agencies, with Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
U.S. Northern Command is synchronizing active-duty Title 10 Defense Support for Civil Authorities efforts in support of the lead agencies. Active-duty Soldiers mobilized for this effort will fall under the direction of the Dual Status Commander, Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, a member of the North Carolina National Guard who is jointly managed by the commander of USNORTHCOM and the National Guard Bureau and may, by law, serve in two statuses – federal and state – simultaneously.
This support includes up to 1,000 general purpose troops, which will be sourced out of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. General support requirements include command and control personnel, infrastructure support, sustainment efforts, supplies and services, fuels and other functions. Activities will also include establishing and maintaining infrastructure to sustain activities across the range of military-focused domestic operations to enable Department of Defense and civilian response.
Light Medium highwater rescue and recovery vehicles or similar vehicles for transporting people and/or cargo into affected areas will also be provided
Other DoD activities include:
• Providing a variety of helicopters that are prepositioned or are in place to perform search and rescue, heavy lift and other operations.
• Performing support missions to resupply commodities, or needed items, in affected counties in Western North Carolina.
• Through the Army Corps of Engineers, assessing water and wastewater treatment plants in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as conducting electricity, flood fight and dam assessments in affected states.
• The Civil Air Patrol has flown 62 missions in support of relief efforts.
The DoD is providing people, helicopters, ground vehicles, and equipment in full support of the leading entities – the North Carolina National Guard and FEMA. The assistance will include delivering support and commodities [needed items] to impacted and isolated communities, assisting with supply point logistics at commodity staging locations, and removing debris from affected routes.
The National Guard has activated more than 6,500 Guardsmen, hundreds of high-water vehicles, and dozens of helicopters and rescue boats from 12 different states in State-Active-Duty status. These Guardsmen have been spearheading the response effort across the impacted region in support of their governors, providing critical life-saving and life-sustaining support to the victims of Hurricane Helene, an historic natural disaster.
We are a member of the whole-of-government, federal family of resources serving to better position the people on the ground to alleviate human suffering. We have been fully engaged with FEMA and the whole-of-government relief efforts related to Hurricane Helene, and will continue to work with our federal, state and local partners to ensure we are supporting and coordinating response efforts.
At USNORTHCOM headquarters in Colorado Springs, in partnership with FEMA, we are anticipating future needs, thinking through scenarios, and lining up capabilities and resources to be able to quickly deliver them to the Dual Status Commander in North Carolina.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: For further information, please contact U.S. Northern Command Public Affairs at (719) 554-6889 or email us at n-ncpa.omb@mail.mil.
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| Date Taken: | 10.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.04.2024 13:57 |
| Story ID: | 482550 |
| Location: | PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 680 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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