FORT RILEY, Kan. -- "Exercise, Exercise, Exercise," with those three words Fort Riley garrison personnel launched a full-scale exercise to test directorate crisis responses May 17. The exercise was planned to last 24 to 36 hours, about twice as long as similar exercises conducted in previous years.
The scenario -- severe weather wreaked havoc on Fort Riley. At approximately 10 a.m. a tornado was reported on the post near the Grant Street gate and 10 minutes later a twister ripped through the Warner-Peterson housing area.
According to the exercise summary released the morning of May 18, within an hour of the tornado, 15 to 20 injured people were reported.
As the event unfolded, reports of extensive damage to Fort Riley infrastructure came in, including power and computer outages, a small fuel spill at building 7120 and a ruptured containment system.
First responders from Fort Riley Fire and Emergency Services were dispatched to the Warner-Peterson neighborhood, eventually joined by medical personnel from Irwin Army Community Hospital; the Directorate of Public Works; Corvias Housing; Army Community Services; members of the 300th Military Police Company, 97th Military Battalion, and the American Red Cross.
Responders from FRFES began assessing structural damage and escorting the injured to the casualty collection point at the corner of Longstreet and Jackson. Meanwhile, assets from Junction City and Riley County, Kansas, were requested per a mutual aid agreement.
"It's a slow methodical process, almost like a hazmat situation," said Ric Seward, fire chief, FRFES, referring to emergencies involving hazardous materials.
According to DES Chief of Police Will Paskow, the initial priorities call for gathering the walking wounded and bringing them to a staging area so they can be accounted for.
Then there was the debris.
"The area was covered with downed trees and power lines, so once we got the walking wounded out, our brothers from DPW came in and pushed the rubble out of the way," Paskow said.
Subsequent actions called for assembling a rescue task force, he said.
"We'll use structural engineers from public works to go ahead and assess the structural integrity of the houses and firefighters will do a deliberate search of the houses.
Also involved were Soldiers from the 97th MP battalion which comprised a quick reaction force," Paskow said, "to serve as litter bearers if, God forbid, we should need that."
Soldiers were also used to patrol the exterior perimeter of the housing area "to make sure we haven't missed anybody," Paskow said, "Obviously, our priority today is the safety security and accountability of our Big Red One Soldiers."
Helping in that accountability were dogs and handlers from Kansas K9 Task Force.
"These are disaster search dogs and wide-area search dogs and they only look for live people," said Heather Swift of the Task Force. "And what they'll do is bark when they find a victim."
Swift described the difference between the two types of dogs.
"Disaster search dogs are used in structures and other places in urban environments," Swift said. "Wide-area search dogs are used in fields and rural areas, more of what we deal with in Kansas."
Part of the challenge during the exercise came in the form of real inclement weather in from high winds, building gray clouds and, for a time, a squall of rain and small hail. But the teams pressed on.
"The conditions were a bit tough, but everybody is pulling together and are optimistic and doing the right things," Paskow said.
Once those victims were cleared through the casualty collection points and evaluated by first responders for injuries, they were transported to ACS where impacted Soldiers were escorted to the Family Assistant Center.
Once there, according to Cheryl Erickson, director of ACS, professionals began the process of determining what services Soldiers required and documented where they were being relocated. Also documented were contact information, including units, email addresses and phone numbers for follow-up at a later date.
By the evening hours, a press release issued by the Fort Riley Garrison said seven people had been killed.
At the end of the exercise, Fort Riley had achieved 100 percent accountability of personnel and casualty next of kin notification was complete. In all, seven people were hospitalized and 29 personnel in the shelter awaited housing.
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