Courtesy Photo | Members of the 3662nd Maintenance Company, from Devils Lake and Bismarck, N.D., form a...... read more read more
MINOT, N.D. — As the last day in May dawned, about 100 North Dakota National Guard members were helping with flood response in Ward County. As the first day in June draws to a close, about 600 Guardsmen are now in the community. The Guard began flood operations there May 23 with soldiers and airmen patrolling 21 miles of levees between Burlington and Minot in an around-the-clock operation.
Extensive rainfall has increased the need in those communities, and the Guard has responded to additional requests through the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services. Today, Guardsmen are performing a variety of missions in addition to the initial levee patrol mission, which still continues with five teams. Two more teams have begun levee patrols within the city of Minot.
Additional Guardsmen are putting on foot miles walking door to door, following in the steps of Minot Police Department personnel who spent last night notifying residents of the mayor’s mandatory evacuation notice, which impacts about 10,000 people. Today, North Dakota National Guard airmen provided secondary evacuation coverage, moving from one house to the next to document who had already evacuated.
“We just went house to house knocking on doors and informed them of the evacuation,” said Tech. Sgt. Brandan Ressler, who serves with Minot’s 219th Security Forces Squadron. “My group of 10 knocked on 104 doors and spoke with only four people. Most of the people we saw were tidying up and heading out.”
Once they complete the mission, they’ll shift to providing traffic control points — something Chief Warrant Officer Brad Hoines called “the most dangerous things we do here.”
Hoines serves as the North Dakota National Guard’s state safety officer, and credits the supervision and leadership Guardsmen receive as a major factor in keeping them safe. He still requests drivers be cautious.
“Simply because we have a lot of traffic, those people that are driving in those areas of town need to slow down and pay attention so they don’t cause any accidents,” he said. “If they don’t need to be out there, they shouldn’t be.”
Spc. Blaine Jensen, of Dickinson, who serves the city’s 816th Engineer Company (Horizontal), said the transition to Minot was challenging, but it’s a mission he and his fellow soldiers embraced.
“We worked in Bismarck all day yesterday and got in to Minot around 6 p.m. and worked until 3 a.m., so we had a 23-hour day,” he said.
The soldiers caught up on rest at Minot State University before heading back out today to help with sandbagging and haul missions. With fewer than 24 hours in the town, Jensen was already impressed with the community support.
“This has been very positive for all of us,” he said. “I think the National Guard’s doing a great job and a lot of people have been thanking us. I think we’ve stepped up to the challenge and have met everything that has been thrown at us.”
Besides personnel, the North Dakota National Guard brought additional equipment to Minot, staging some for search-and-rescue missions, should they be needed, as well as within a heavy quick reaction force team. The “heavy” QRF incorporates engineer equipment with a team of Guardsmen for quick response to troubled areas. Two “light” QRF teams also are on standby with high-wheeled vehicles, Humvees, a load of sandbags and smaller pieces of potentially needed equipment.
| Date Taken: | 05.31.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.01.2011 16:38 |
| Story ID: | 71427 |
| Location: | MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,769 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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