You'll be forgiven if you didn't notice the nuclear disaster that took place last week in South Carolina.
As far as national emergencies go, it was a quiet one. Employees with the Federal Emergency Management Agency set up shop on Fort Jackson for a few days to deal with the crisis, then returned home to their offices in Virginia once the drama folded.
The week's activities were part of Summer Exposure, a statewide exercise designed to test the ability to coordinate and conduct response and recovery activities during an incident at a nuclear power plant. In this case, it was the H. B. Robinson Nuclear Generating Plant in Hartsville, S.C.
"Whenever there's a national disaster, our team can be deployed to that disaster to deal with it on all levels," said Julius Gibbons, FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance branch director, whose team set up shop last week at Fort Jackson. "We have individuals from security, safety, mitigation, public assistance, planning … the same type of individuals you'd see at a joint field office."
The mock disaster might have taken place more than 60 miles from Fort Jackson, but the installation was a perfect fit for communication teams looking to coordinate with state officials during times of crisis, said R.J. Frazier, the post's all-hazards emergency manager.
"We're centrally located and easily accessible, and we have the space," he said. "It gives them an opportunity to come in and validate their systems, to be autonomous ... and learn something."
The FEMA team arrived the morning of June 22 and set up camp in the parking lot of the Perez Fitness Center. The following day was spent validating communication abilities with the S.C. Emergency Management Division off post. The exercise wrapped up Friday morning.
Frazier said the original plan was to help FEMA establish camp on one of Fort Jackson's forward operating bases, or at a remote areas in the surrounding forest.
"When they explained their space constraints and what they were trying to validate, we figured that hard ground would be best for them," he said.
"(Fort Jackson) has been great," said Kristin Buda, Tech Corps adviser of FEMA's National Incident Management Assistance Team. "Frazier's been able to get us space, and setting up here at the gym alleviates our need to rent portable bathrooms and portable showers. And it's a very secure location."
Despite what some people might think, FEMA does not have the authority to assume command of state and local resources during times of emergency, Gibbons said.
"Our goal here is to provide the best federal assistance that we can to the survivors and the surrounding communities," he said. "We're coordinating with the local government because they're being graded; we're here to assist them. There's a myth that, whenever there's a disaster, we're in charge. The truth is the state is always in charge. We come in to assist."
Buda added: "The ultimate goal is to be able to operate self-sufficiently without taking resources from the state, or taking housing or tents away from disaster survivors."
Military installations such as Fort Jackson routinely are included in planning operations during times of federal emergencies, Frazier said - hurricanes, earthquakes or potential nuclear accidents.
"When a president declares a disaster, whether it's South Carolina or what have you, he's going to ask, 'What installations can potentially support FEMA and Homeland Security while they're supporting contingency operations in the area?'" he said.
Despite the urgency of last week's activities, the camp outside Perez Gym was relatively relaxed. The heat proved to be the biggest obstacle, with workers seeking refuge inside cooled tents whenever their duties didn't require them to be outside.
"Right now, we're just getting the repeaters set up and operating so we can talk," said Randy Branson, FEMA staging area group supervisor. It was proving a challenge, he said, but the team actually completed their tasks ahead of schedule and were working toward meeting the following day's goals.
Because of that, he didn't know what the rest of the week might bring.
"We'll come up with something, I'm sure," he said.
Why Fort Jackson?
* South Carolina has experienced 147 hurricanes and tropical storms since 1871.
* Storms have resulted in billions of dollars in damages and cost more than 2,050 lives. The costliest was Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
* The low-lying areas of the eastern section of the state can be especially prone to flooding. Northwest counties also are flood prone.
* South Carolina is subject to tornadoes and generally experience several each year.
* The state suffered from 180 tornadoes from 1995 to 2000. (In 1995, 53 tornadoes were reported.)
* The installation is central to all areas of the state and is not as vulnerable to the effects of coastal storms.
* Fort Jackson's location is ideal to reach from many of the region's main highways.
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