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Operationalizing Military Support to Civil AuthoritiesCNIC prepares Navy regional and installation managers for emergency managementBy Capt. BJ Keepers and Dr. Raymond RollDuring the wildfires in California lastOctober, at least 1,500 homes were destroyedand more than 500,000 acres ofland burned. Nine people died as a directresult of the fires while 85 others were injured,according to media reports.Over 900,000 residents evacuated toescape the projected path of the fires, farexceeding the number evacuated fromNew Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, reportedthe San Diego Union Tribune.Many of these evacuees were San Diego-basedmilitary members and theirfamilies. In response, Naval Bases PointLoma, San Diego and Coronado set upevacuation centers designed to help Navyfamilies that fled their homes.Additionally, nonessential personnelfrom Naval Base San Diego barracks weremoved onto nearby vessels to accommodateadditional Department of Defensedisplaced personnel.The Defense Department provideda variety of support services to civil authoritiesto help battle the California fires.March Air Reserve Base was the primarystaging area for relief supplies that werecoordinated by the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency.The National Guard called up 1,500troops to man the fire lines, and another100 California National Guard medicalpersonnel provided medical assistance,according to CNN.The Navy's Helicopter Sea CombatSquadron 85, based at Naval Air StationNorth Island, made more than 1,100 waterdrops on the fires in San Diego County,while more than 100 Sailors and federalfirefighters battled the fires on the groundusing trucks, fire engines and bulldozers.Marine Corps Air Station Miramar andCamp Pendleton contributed several bulldozers,aircraft and firefighting trucks. Atotal of 12 fire engines from local baseswere assigned for firefighting efforts.Additionally, Commander, Navy RegionSouthwest, led by Rear Adm. Len Hering,stood up a Region Operations Centerand Crisis Action Team for seven days ofsustained operations. The team synchronizedthe shore force response of morethan 5,000 Sailors and federal employeesin disaster relief operations and providedNavy liaison officers to the county’s Officeof Emergency Services for full coordinationwith civil authorities.In sharp contrast from the criticismvoiced after Hurricane Katrina, the responseand relief efforts by federal, stateand local agencies involved in the Californiawildfires were widely praised. Whilethe response was not without communicationand coordination difficulties, theoverall improvement in emergency managementwas not accidental; it was theresult of a determined effort to integrategovernmental efforts in preparing for andresponding to major incidents.This effort began in earnest after 9/11with Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5.HSPD-5’s stated objectiveis “to ensure that all levels of governmentacross the Nation have the capabilityto work efficiently and effectively together,using a national approach to domestic incidentmanagement.”A significant feature within this nationalapproach is the mandate that DoDhas the responsibility to prepare for domesticemergencies, through measurestaken in advance and during an incident,to reduce loss of life and property and toprotect the nation’s institutions.Commander, Navy Installations Command(CNIC), has actively embraced thisconcept by aggressively establishing andmanning regional and installation emergencyoperation centers (EOC) throughoutthe CNIC enterprise. This effort isdriven by CNIC’s foresight to operationalizeshore forces and align them with fleetwarfighting capabilities.To further this strategic vision an emergencymanagement classroom and wargaming center of excellence for the shoreforce enterprise was built on Naval BaseCoronado. This center, the Shore ForceTraining Center (SFTC), opened in September2008 and will be the cornerstoneof CNIC’s vision to transform Navy installationsand specifically address HSPD-5’sTwo MH-60S Seahawks from Sea Combat Squadron85 retrieve water from a lake near a wildfire in SanDiego County. An MH-60S Seahawk helicopterassigned to HSC 85 dumps 420 gallons of wateron wildfires burning in San Diego County. HSC-85 teamed up with the San Diego Department ofForestry and Fire Protection to help put out thewildfires blazing across Southern California. U.S.Navy photos by MC Seaman Jon Husman.52 CHIPS www.chips.navy.mil Dedicated to Sharing Information - Technology - Experience