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HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. – On Jan. 21, 2025, Winter Storm Enzo blanketed the base with a historical snowfall totaling six inches of accumulation. The snowfall lasted from noon until approximately 9 p.m. that day, with nearby counties experiencing accumulations of up to nine inches.
This unexpected snowfall smashed old records, making it the heaviest ever recorded in Northwest Florida.
To prioritize the safety of base personnel, Col. Patrick Dierig, the 1st Special Operations Wing commander directed Hurlburt Field to operate under mission-essential reporting for two days. The decision was made to minimize Airmen’s exposure to hazardous road conditions and ensure personnel well-being.
“We train our support forces to treat the installation as a weapon system,” said Lt. Col. Sean Stapler, the Hurlburt Field civil engineer commander. “For us, readiness is not just about being ready to deploy downrange; it’s about having the capability to operate, protect and recover the installation in a crisis.”
For the duration of the storm, civil engineers assigned to the 1st SOW and the Hurlburt Field Mayroad housing office ensured Airmen living in the dormitories and families on base had the necessary utilities to ride out the storm.
Concurrently, civil engineers also gathered approximately three tons of sand and distributed it to different locations on base to reduce the risk of slippery road conditions, helping to mitigate hazardous driving conditions for emergency services and other essential workers.
Multiple units across the installation worked around the clock to ensure base readiness and safety by clearing roadways, making emergency repairs, maintaining the installation’s water and sewer distribution systems and repairing mechanical system failures from the extreme weather.
"The civil engineers were instrumental to the various missions being executed across the installation during Winter Storm Enzo,” said the civil engineer operations flight superintendent for the 1st SOW. “We got creative and maintained a can do, will do mentality that prevented any loss of operation to the mission."
The civil engineer operations flight superintendent for the 1st SOW stated that civil engineer teams at various installations handle snow-related functions as part of their seasonal responsibilities. They were able to draw from those teams’ experiences and implement measures to streamline base recovery efforts to minimize the storm's impact.
The civil engineers were not the only mission essential workers taking care of Hurlburt Field personnel.
“We are fortunate to have an exceptional food service team at Hurlburt Field that consistently goes above and beyond to serve our customers,” said the Riptide Dining Facility manager. “I was not surprised to see Airmen volunteering their time off to ensure that our dorm Airmen received the care they needed, as well as other members who were eager to assist.”
Service workers assigned to the Reef-to-Go Dining Facility prepared more than 150 reheatable meals and 453 food items for Airmen living in the dormitories to ensure they had enough food to last throughout the storm.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2025 13:44 |
| Story ID: | 490772 |
| Location: | HURLBURT FIELD, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 77 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Historical Winter Storm Enzo hits Hurlburt Field, by SrA Alysa Calvarese, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
