| Ohio’s CERFP team undergoes certification process during exercise |
196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind.—An airplane sprays chemical agents over a crowd of 17,000 at Ohio Stadium. As victims hasten to escape, an explosion collapses a building. If this were a real scenario, who would respond? The police department might secure the perimeter while the bomb squad determined the likelihood of a secondary explosion. Emergency medical personnel might initially treat victims and the Ohio National Guard’s 52nd Civil Support Team, Weapons of Mass Destruction (CST-WMD) might identify what exactly the agent is. Many different specialized teams and agencies together would add up to hundreds treating thousands. In such conditions, Gov. Ted Strickland would likely call in additional Ohio National Guard troops. Enter the latest expert unit on handling mass casualties: Ohio's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-yield Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package, or CERFP. "The CERFP brings a physical component that other units or agencies cannot," said Jack McCartt of Army North (ARNORTH), incident commander of an Aug. 16 Ohio CERFP evaluation exercise at Camp Atterbury, Ind. "It's not as much of a technology-based job; there's a lot of physical moving of heavy objects. The CERFP brings the manpower and know-how to handle a mass-casualty event; it fills a big void." About 200 Soldiers comprise the four elements of the Ohio CERFP: command and control (73rd Troop Command out of Columbus), search and extraction (1194th Engineer Company, Chillicothe), decontamination (637th Chemical Company, Kettering), and medical (composed mainly of the 121st Medical Group [MDG], Columbus, plus Airmen from the 178th MDG, Springfield, 179th MDG, Mansfield, and 180th MDG, Toledo). At Camp Atterbury Aug. 11-17, ARNORTH directed an external evaluation (EXEVAL) of the Ohio CERFP. Upon successful completion of this EXEVAL, designed by the National Guard Bureau, the Ohio CERFP will be certified to respond to a terrorist attack, natural disaster, chemical spill or pandemic. The event marked the first time a CERFP was evaluated on each element (command and control, search and extraction, decontamination, and medical). “The EXEVAL is designed to be tough to make them prove their capability,” McCartt said. “If we made it easy, anybody could do it.” Response International Group (RIG), a first responders’ consultant and training company out of Oklahoma City, brought rocks and wood to construct simulated collapsed buildings or "rubble piles" with tunnels, rooms, basements and mannequins to simulate victims. The 1194th Engineer Company traveled to Oklahoma for a basic extraction course with RIG last February. The unit has been conducting twice its normal drill and annual training periods in preparation for the CERFP EXEVAL. “If that’s what it takes to get trained properly, that’s what we need to do,” said Sgt. Scott Carrozza of Hillsboro, a carpentry masonry specialist with the 1194th. “In order for this to become second nature to us, we really need to do all of this training.” Temperatures were in the 90s during much of the evaluation. “The most challenging part of this EXEVAL has been the heat,” Carrozza said. “Ninety degrees outside our Level B suits is one hundred thirty-five degrees inside.” The chemical-resistant suits feature full ventilation around the face and are equipped with two batteries that can last four hours a piece. However, they reach 100 percent humidity within minutes, and given the physical nature of search and extraction work, shifts are generally limited to 45 minutes. Another element CERFP teams had to endure was time. ARNORTH held the Ohio CERFP to its own predetermined time structure. “The CERFP commander makes predictions of how long it will take them to set up and how many they can treat,” McCartt said. “This type of training gives them hard numbers to work with and tests the competence and readiness of their team. They’ve set aggressive goals of setting up within ninety minutes and treating one hundred twenty-five per hour, but they’ve met those goals. I’m impressed with their teamwork. They’ve put a tremendous amount of effort and expense into this.” Soldiers of the CERFP expressed a willingness to improve and a drive to better serve their country. “What we’re trying to accomplish is to continually know this job better than what we do,” Carrozza said. “This is what we signed up for, to help protect the United States of America.” “We want to validate on our CERFP mission,” said Columbus resident Pfc. Danielle White, a chemical operations specialist with the 637th. “We want to show that we are able, capable and the best to handle a dirty bomb. To be able to save lives is amazing, and if we’re going to help anyone, it should be people in our own country.” McCartt laid out a scenario in which a CERFP would seemingly make the most difference, another event like Katrina, where local responders are not around to help. “Before Katrina, with the local response being wiped out, people didn’t consider much how you would replace those assets,” McCartt said. “Having a CERFP in this instance makes sense. Local responders are also not generally prepared for biological or chemical attacks. The Ohio CERFP is a specially-trained asset in one of the most populated areas of the country. They’re going to see a lot of action.”
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