Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Steven Eaton | NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass – A Member of the Massachusetts National Guard 1st Weapons of...... read more read more
NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Outside of the Allen Street School in North Attleboro, the hum of generators and squawking of radios break the silence of a quiet neighborhood. Inside the sounds of air tanks and equipment fill the empty school, as members of the Massachusetts National Guard’s 1st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (CST) donned in large HAZMAT suits, survey the scene to find the source of what brought them here.
In reality, what brought them there was training and evaluation, but in their scenario, the team had been called after a local fire department found an unidentifiable lab process and suspected dissemination device inside of the school. The CST was requested to support the Fire Department in identifying hazards, assessing consequences, advising on response measures, and providing additional support.
The training event was part of a three-day evaluation of the CST by Army Northern Command.
ARNORTH is responsible for ensuring units around the country are capable and able to respond to real-world incidents.
“There is no bias, we give them a clean look at how they do business based on doctrine,” said Willie Coleman, an Observer Controller and acting incident commander.
“It’s always better to have someone from the outside. Always based on the Task and Evaluation and Outlines,” he added.
Unique to the CST’s evaluation is that the locations of the event are not known by the unit prior to that morning.
“The 1st CST is on call 24/7 and must be ready to support local, State, and Federal civilian authorities anywhere within Massachusetts. Every location in the state is unique and will present different challenges. Having the location be unknown exercises the team’s ability to quickly react and plan to unique conditions and challenges within time constraints,” said Lt. Col. David Wilson, CST Commander.
The first scenario involved a simulated makeshift laboratory accident, resulting in multiple casualties and the potential release of a chemical agent. The CST, equipped with detection and identification equipment, was tasked with assessing the situation, identifying the hazards, and advising on appropriate response measures.
“We were tasked to head down to a known incident with an unknown hazard. We were given a brief of the situation, and a set of tasks needed to be completed, in order to identify the hazard,” said Tech. Sgt. Andrew J. Nadeau, a team member with the CST.
“While surveying the incident location we take radiologic, biological, and chemical readings to relay back to the Incident Commander, along with photos in real-time. Once we identify the hazard and maybe some of the processes that are going on, we take samples and as a team come up with a mitigation plan,” he added.
To protect themselves from the unknown, the initial team wears the highest level of protection, which poses it’s own problems and hazards.
“Wearing a Level A hazmat suit for a two-hour entry is an intense experience, both physically and mentally. A Level A suit is fully encapsulating, providing maximum protection against hazardous materials, but this also means it is bulky, heavy, and airtight, with a limited supply of air,” said Sgt. Adam Balzarini, survey team member.
“Mobility is restricted, making movement more difficult, and fine motor skills are hindered by the thick gloves and limited dexterity. The suit is hot and can become unbearably warm after a while, as there is no ventilation, and body heat builds up quickly. Sweat accumulates, and dehydration can set in if not monitored closely,” he added.
After the survey team completes their initial assessment, a sample team is sent in to collect samples for more identification. Based on these samples, the CST can help incident commanders and civilian authorities make plans to contain and mitigate the issue.
“Once we identify the hazard and maybe some of the processes that are going on, we take samples and as a team come up with a mitigation plan,” said Nadeau.
Supporting civil authorities is the CST’s primary mission.
“The CST’s mission is to respond in support of civil authorities in the event of a HAZMAT or WMD situation. We assist civil authorities by helping to assess a situation, advise given our expertise and findings, and identify any hazardous material that we may discover,” said Maj. Adam Kusser, CST Deputy Commander.
“Our capabilities allow local responders to build upon their initial findings. We can provide an Incident Commander with CBRN response, communications packages, and technical decontamination for first responders. We also provide a mobile laboratory to analyze and identify any HAZMAT, and an operations section that can assist with information management,” he added.
The team’s work wasn’t done after the school, a second part of the evaluation took part two days later at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro.
For this scenario, suspects tied to the Allen Ave School lab conducted a chemical attack at the mall, and the CST was called in to identify the hazard and assist civil authorities.
The CST also provides support to local authorities for pre-planned events such as professional football games and the Boston Marathon.
“During pre-planned operations such as these, we provide “steady state” support to civil authorities,” said Kusser.
For these events, the CST operates in a smaller Joint Hazard Assessment Team, where a few members partner with local agencies to fill capabilities gaps.
“[We] provide venue protection through sweeps or response to suspicious packages,” said Kusser.
“We fill a capabilities gap for these agencies with our detection and identification capabilities, as well as the ability to reach back and provide a full-scale response in the event that something occurs,” he added.
By conducting realistic training exercises, the CST aims to ensure are ready to respond to any emergency, and get better every time.
“Our goal during the exercise is to achieve a fully “T” (trained) rating in each of our eleven mission essential tasks (METs) and go from good to better each time we do an exercise,” said Wilson.
“In addition to being able to do a full-team response, our ability to execute all our METs and their supporting collective and individual tasks gives us the training foundation to employ the team’s many capabilities, as needed, in roughly 140 stand-by venue protection missions we support a year like the Boston Marathon, Boston Fourth of July celebration, sporting and community events,” he added.
| Date Taken: | 11.27.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.27.2024 11:20 |
| Story ID: | 486272 |
| Location: | MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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