News Releases for September 2005
September 2, 2005
For further information, please Contact the Governor's Office
Hoeven Deploys Guard Engineers To Mississipi
Other State Efforts Underway Through State DES
BISMARCK , N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today announced that a 55-person Prime BEEF (Base Emergency Engineer Force) team from the North Dakota Air National Guard in Fargo is being deployed to provide emergency service in Gulfport, Mississippi.
“The most immediate way people can help is to donate money to the charity of their choice,” Hoeven said. “At the same time, we are coordinating other means of contributing to the disaster relief effort.”
A list of charities with contact information may be found on the Governor’s web site or the state web site. Details are also available by calling the Department of Emergency Services at 1-800-773-3259.
The 119th Civil Engineer Squadron Prime BEEF team provides equipment and personnel to restore electrical service, provide clean drinking water, establish or repair plumbing and provide pest management service.
The 55-person section will meet up with another 55-person Air National Guard unit and reopen the Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) adjacent to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The CRTC site hosts large scale deployments and can accommodate up to 3,000 people and will be used to house people displaced by the widespread destruction of homes and apartment buildings in that area.
This team will deploy from Fargo within a few days with a pair of 750 kilowatt electric power generators, other electrical distribution equipment and a Reserve Osmosis Water Purification unit capable of providing 600 gallons of clean water each hour.
Additional firefighter personnel from the 119th Civil Engineer Squadron may also be deployed with the Prime BEEF team.
The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) is a national mutual aid agreement and partnership that allows state-to-state assistance during gubernatorial or federally declared state emergencies. EMAC provides a responsive and straightforward system for the National Guard and other agencies in unaffected states to send personnel and equipment to help disaster relief efforts in affected states.
At the same time, other public and private state relief efforts are being coordinated by the Department of Emergency Services (DES) under the EMAC. Current efforts underway to help bring relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina include the following:
- The North Dakota Department of Health is working to coordinate public health and medical volunteers through the state’s Public Health Emergency Volunteer Reserve (PHEVR).
- The state is currently undertaking an inventory of available housing for possible accommodation of refugees under the EMAC agreement.
- Grand Forks Volunteer Flood Recovery Team notified SOC that members who worked in Grand Forks during the 1997 Red River flood have offered to assist with hurricane response efforts. Members of this team have expertise to offer in the following areas: Legal, Law Enforcement, Engineering and Public Works, FEMA Public Assistance, Donations, Facility Stabilization and Reconstruction Procurement Control, Drinking Water/Water Distribution, Waste Water/Storm Water, Debris Removal/Solid Waste, Business and Private Redevelopment, Building Codes, Planning, Finance, Public School Stabilization, Psychologist.
- A DES staff member has been deployed as an A-Team member due to a request from New Mexico National Coordinating Group (NGC) via EMAC. A-Team is a team experienced in the coordination and distribution of emergency response.
- ND State Water Commission (SWC) notified the SOC regarding the availability of two (2) gator pumps for deployment.
- A North Dakota packaging distributor who, in cooperation with its customers, has volunteered to donate, as needed, approximately one-half million empty sand bags. The bags are poly-propylene bags – very strong and durable (as used for clean-up purposes during the Grand Forks floods of 1997).
- A North Dakota seed and feed company has offered 44,000 pounds of lentils located in a container in Dallas, Texas, human grade lentils (dry), to the disaster relief effort.
- NDSU Graduate Students contacted the SOC and offered assistance from the graduate students in the Emergency Management Program at NDSU. These individuals have volunteered to assist in emergency response efforts.
Private and public safety first responder associations in North Dakota are asked to coordinate their response to Hurricane Katrina victims by working through county, city and tribal emergency managers who will work in coordination with the N.D. Department of Emergency Services and the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).
Local citizens concerned about friends or relatives living in the affected areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina may call their local chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC) for assistance in trying to locate them.
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