The National Guard celebrated the arrival of two new transportation companies, geared to help in local emergencies and disaster response, during an open house earlier this month at the Armory near Montesano.
The 1041st and 1161st Transportation Companies now both feature local detachments located out of Montesano, replacing artillery detachments that had been present at the Armory out at 21 Clemons Road. The 1041st really located out at the Armory a year ago without much fanfare; the 1161st local detachment moved in a month ago.
Sgt. Terry Buffo noted that the time was ripe to let the community know the changes at the National Guard facility.
“I’m really hoping we can do an annual event,” Buffo said. “We really want to embrace the community, do a barbecue or something and let people know that we’re here to help.”
Before the local transportation detachments moved in, the closest emergency response for this region was in Eastern Washington. The 1041st main body is located out of Spokane, while the 1161st main body is located out of Ephrata.
The state has been preparing for a larger National Guard presence at the Montesano facility for a few years now. In 2013, the state Legislature allocated $400,000 to improve parking at the National Guard post as well as unspecified funds to do roof repairs at the building there.
“We’ve really taken pride in getting this building back in shape,” said Sgt. Octavio Mendoza of Vancouver.
“This has really been a home away from home for us all,” Buffo said, who brought his wife, son and daughter to the open house on Sunday.
Aberdeen Mayor Bill Simpson was among those who took a tour of the facility earlier this month.
Simpson noted he had lived on the Harbor for years and had never visited the area or ever really been invited.
“I really didn’t know what was even here,” Simpson said.
But Simpson immediately spotted the significance of having heavy equipment just minutes away from the Chehalis River, which has had some significant flooding in recent years.
“I think we all still remember the December storm back in 2007,” Simpson said. “They had to use all this equipment to bring beds, supplies and food for people who really needed the help.”
Among the equipment on display was a 10-wheel palletized load system (PLS-A1), which will be able to move through flood water and deploy everything from fork lifts to food stuffs. There’s also the M-1083, a six-wheel tactical truck that local residents might remember from the 2007 storm, since it was one of the only vehicles able to ford the flood waters.
The yard at the outpost is full of vehicles from the two units, as well as vehicles from the 790th chemical company, which has been decontaminating its equipment since the Oso disaster.
During 2007, the National Guard still had its artillery units in Montesano.
“When it floods, what are you going to do with a Paladin?” said Buffo. “Put a couple people up on a tube and save people two at a time? No. This is absolutely designed for the type of natural disasters we have out here.”
“This could go through three feet of water or five feet of mud,” added Sgt. Kelly Lenhardt, pointing at the M-1083 on display.
Lenhardt was part of the disaster response back in 2007, which saw Interstate 5 flooded at Centralia as well as trees blown down and flooding on the Harbor.
“We took the M-1083 and forded through creeks and rivers,” Lenhardt said. “We can safely go through two to four feet of water because we have a switch that turns the fan off. The big issue is water coming through and breaking the fan blade and the fan not keeping the engine cool. When we couldn’t use the trucks because there was too much water, we’d use boats.”
Lenhardt noted that the December storm was a trigger point for leadership of the National Guard and emergency management officials, who recognized a need for emergency responders to be located closer to the I-5 corridor.
“This is a great area because we’re pretty central to everything,” Lenhardt said. “We can get up the Olympic Peninsula and it doesn’t take much to get back to the I-5 corridor and we can get down to Centralia and Portland quickly.”
“Having these guys here, it will take just a couple hours to get to a disaster rather than when we were all in Eastern Washington and it would take us a day and a half,” added Sgt. David Carnahan.
Carnahan noted that several in the detachment participated in the mud slide disaster response at Oso back in March.
Carnahan of Tacoma said he joined the National Guard in 2008 after a stint as active-duty Air Force.
“I wanted to help out my state,” he said. “The National Guard is a state asset and what makes the National Guard awesome is we all come from the community. We’re all part of the community. If there’s a disaster or an emergency, we want to respond. No, we feel compelled to respond. No one has to order us to go save someone being flooded out. We’re all bringing something extra to the mission.”
Specialist Jason Little is the only one at the Montesano outpost who lives on the Harbor. The Aberdeen resident said he saw an opportunity to help and joined up.
“For me, it’s the college benefits — there’s a benefit to you and a benefit to the community if you want to get involved,” he said.
Buffo said he is actively looking for more people interested, especially those who live on the Harbor.
For more information, visit http://ift.tt/1uqo7bg
No comments:
Post a Comment