911th trains for hazardous rescues

911th Technical Rescue Engineers training for a hazardous exercise throw materials that will be used in bracing a collapsed building during an exercise at Fort A.P. Hill on June 6. (Photo by Marny Malin)

The 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company conducted a structural collapse rescue mission under hazardous conditions at Fort A.P. Hill on June 6.

"We are doing our collapsed structure training in a hazardous environment," said Capt. Frank Tedeschi of the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company. "Our hazardous environment is going to be the gas chamber. We're using standard Army CS gas. We're going to replicate a chlorine gas attack. We're going to do our usual mission structural shoring and medical tasks, except we're upping the conditions so we can do this in a hazardous environment."

The mission that took place was representative of a situation that could occur any day.
"This is a scenario that could happen in real life," said Tedeschi. "When we get called in to do our structural collapse rescue mission, it could be after a dirty bomb or any manner of substances. We're not going under the assumption that we're going to do our rescue in a clean environment. We always hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

The mission included first making sure that the collapsed building was stable and then removing any injured people from the collapsed building while having to deal with a hazardous environment.

"We're doing shoring in an NBC environment," said Spc. Grant White, a combat engineer with the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company. "We're going to shore the outside of the building and then move inside and shore the inside. Then we have to take two casualties out and carry them over to the wood line where they can get assistance."

The exercise helped the Soldiers gain confidence in their Nuclear Biological Chemical equipment.

"Going into the NBC chamber with a mask is not so bad," said White. "Your skin will just burn a little bit if you don't have [Mission Oriented Protective Posture] gear on. Without a mask it burns. You can't see and it drains everything from your nose and mouth. Sometimes it makes people throw up."

The exercise was a part of the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company's overall mission to stay highly proficient in the tasks they may be called upon to perform.

"The 911th is constantly training," said Tedeschi. "We will be able to complete our mission, even if it is in a hazardous environment. The 911th's mission is to go into collapsed structures and pull out potential victims. But, we can't just train on just collapsed structures. We have to be able to go through any environment. Also, when we get to a patient we have to be able to provide immediate, lifesaving treatment. It really all comes together in this exercise."

The exercise was a combination of the three major functions of the 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company.

"This really is the integration of the three separate disciplines of rescue engineering: hazardous material response, chemical response and medical response," said Tedeschi.

"We have integrated them all to give a quality exercise. The response teams had been training by themselves. Now they have come together."