ARLINGTON, Va., (Army News Service, Dec. 17, 2008) - National Guard members continued to provide a helping hand Tuesday with recovery operations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire after a severe winter storm Dec. 11 that dropped ice, freezing rain and sleet.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick doubled the number of Guardsmen on duty there with the call-up of an additional 700 this week, bringing the total to almost 1,500 troops.
In New Hampshire, more than 350 Soldiers from the 197th Fires Brigade and 54th Troop Command are operating in the Concord and Manchester areas. They are providing shelter support, security operations, debris clearing and commodity distribution.
A staging area also has been established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency at Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., with generators, cots and Meals Ready to Eat.
In Massachusetts, the additional Guard troops will use chainsaws to cut fallen trees blocking roads. They will assist authorities with communications equipment, front end loaders, dump trucks, armories, water and fuel transportation and generators. They will also provide security at more than 60 shelters while augmenting local police in communities.
The Massachusetts governor also requested assistance Monday from the governor of Connecticut under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. He specifically asked for help in route clearance and debris removal operations.
The Connecticut Guard will provide 23 personnel as well as equipment ranging from chainsaws to mobile excavating equipment, said John Whitford, the state public affairs officer. They are expected to arrive in the Springfield, Mass., area today.
"This request came down very fast, and they came on state active duty late last night," he said. "We had close to 40 volunteers, but only 23 were needed."
The Soldiers are from the 192nd Engineering Battalion of Stratford, Conn., the 248th Engineer Company of Norwich, Conn., the 250th Engineering Company of New London, Conn., and the 246th and 256th Firefighting Detachments of East Lyme, Conn.
Whitford said this battalion is "unique," because it has the only authorized chainsaw operators in the state. "So they have these special skills sets to help out. They can hit the ground running when they get in state and get their taskings and immediately go to work."
The National Guard was tasked with performing 160 simultaneous missions in the state, according to a release from the Massachusetts National Guard. And as of 5 a.m., today, 54 of those missions were completed while 89 missions remain ongoing.
Guard members from both states are expected to be on duty through the weekend, said Guard officials.
(Army Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy serves at the National Guard Bureau.)
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