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| Reef Bay |
Good Morning (Afternoon,
Evening, or Night- whenever you’re reading this)!
I spent most of the month of
November away from home (11/1-29) on Hurricane recovery assignment- St. John
Island, U.S. Virgin Islands (Virgin Islands National Park). It was an
once-in-a-lifetime experience (really!). The Islands had experienced two
Category 5 Hurricanes within 2-weeks, leaving them in many cases without adequate
water, food, shelter, fuel, electricity, etc. The residents maintained their
incredible positive nature through continued greetings of “Good Morning” (or
whatever the appropriate time or “Good Day” would be). The people are what made
the sojourn fantastic. I’d like to share a few of my experiences there with the
phenomenal people and places of St. John. First however, I’d like you to please
read this as a preface: https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2017/12/hurricanes-recovery-and-resiliency-caribbeans-national-parks
“The Good”… (and there was
plenty of that)
An
amazing amount of recovery work was accomplished during my brief stay on St.
John. BBC Electric (from Missouri) seemed busy day & night bringing
electrical power back to sections of the 4 x 8-mile island. The NPS Incident
Management Team (IMT) I was the Safety Officer for was a composite IMT (personnel
were from all across the country- Puerto Rico & V.I. to Alaska). Of course
we weren’t alone in our recovery efforts: Global NGO D.I.R.T (Disaster Immediate
Response Team) was present, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), US Coast Guard, Army Corp of Engineers, Bloomberg L.P., Kenny Chesney’s
Love For Love City Foundation, The American Red Cross, The Small Business
Administration, and many, MANY others. More about these organizations, and how to
donate, is addressed below.
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| Our IMT Vets working 11-11-17 |
It
is oft noted that there is no “I” in “team”. In this case there were a lot of
I’s (and “eyes”) with this IM Team. To say folks were proactive in helping us
all achieve our incident objectives (#1 being safety) would be a gross
understatement. The daily efforts of the NPS IMT centered around the areas of
facility stabilization (roof, building
& electrical repairs, mold mitigations & removal), roads &
beaches (debris removal & emergency repairs for access/use), marine
operations (replacing & repositioning navigational, commercial and public
buoys; removing terrestrial debris, like house roofs, from park waters &
reefs), displaced vessels (close to 100 of those damaged were in park waters,
many on sensitive reefs), cultural & natural resource assessments and
emergency stabilization (hundreds of sites, historic structures & artifacts),
and facility operations, trying to get the park back to a semblance of normal
activity.
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| Displaced boats |
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| Hawksnest Beach pile |
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| Los Diablos (Big Bend NP) |
During
my 28-day tenure we opened three beaches (Honeymoon, Hawksnest, and Trunk Bay)
and got another (Cinnamon Bay) ready to open (strategic timing). GRTE Trail
Crew members were also working on safety features at prime heritage areas,
foremost Annaberg Mill.
“The Bad” (not so much: "we-be-bad" = good, right?)
Storm
destruction and devastation, certainly: the east end of St. John has a community at Coral
Bay where a wind gauge reportedly broke at over 225 miles per hour (hit by one
of more than 25 tornadoes within the storm). Lives and dreams were shattered
and ripped apart. A place where mariners normally went to shelter from the “Big
Winds”, called “Hurricane Hole”, became a graveyard of sunken memories.
In
addition to the storms, there were also some actions by a couple of NPS
employees that were less than stellar. The positive ones overwhelmingly
outweigh the bad behaviors. So, let us remember those.
There
was a long list of hazards and potential health & safety issues that faced
everyone. We really couldn’t fit in all of the mitigations into a one-page risk
analysis (215a form), so developed a packet of safety information that was handed
to arriving resources at check-in. Information about Zika and other blood borne
diseases was also sent out to potential responders by the Emergency Incident
Coordination Center. Unfortunately, that happened after some of us arrived, but
as the old adage goes: “better late, than never…”
Back to “The Good” (or
even “The Great”)
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| SMOG at VIIS |
Our Special Marine Operations Group (SMOG) was assisted by the presence
of Marine Vessel (MV) Fort Jefferson. It is the 2nd largest MV in
the NPS fleet. Normally making runs from Key West, FL to Dry Tortugas NP, it
was a valuable resource for our hurricanes recovery efforts in the Caribbean.
They brought 22-tons of relief equipment and supplies to Puerto Rico (PR), and
made regular runs between PR and the V.I. (imagine our surprise when 2-months
later we received a bill from the authorities in PR for $37k, in docking fees:
no joke). The Ft. Jeff was an integral part of our relief efforts. Its support
of the diving operations was also significant.
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| Ed Henson (IT) & JD Swed (Deputy IC) at Honeymoon Beach stairs |
IT
Specialists from Lake Mead (LAME) helped restore WiFi systems for the IMT and
the public to communicate with. They also brought the Virgin Island NP
telephone system back to usable status.
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| Archeology Lab-Heritage Educ. Ctr. (Remains- Cinnamon Bay) |
The CRM
Specialists made great progress assessing damages to our heritage resources and
developed stabilization plans. The park lost the oldest structure from wind and storm surge: it had served as the Archeology Laboratory & Heritage Education Center, located at Cinnamon Bay beach. Annaberg Plantation and Mill was also the site of stabilization efforts in order to get the area back safely accessible to the public. Some of CRM's many efforts were documented at: https://www.facebook.com/virginislandsNPS/videos/2000968853265554/ and https://www.facebook.com/virginislandsNPS/videos/2008947435801029/
Whatever
I say about BBC electric, it won’t be enough. Their crews kept working on the
restoration of electrical power day-after-day. Their deployment schedules long
exceeded ours (like the Army Corp: 45-90 days at a time). When it was noticed
that the parks radio system (which had not been operational for two years) HQ
antenna was dangling by a cable, a Liaison Officer contacted them and they not
only mitigated a very dangerous safety issue at a public entrance, but they
came back and hoisted our Communications Unit Leader up to make longer-term
repairs (way-to-go BBC!). When I asked a BBC crew one day at Trunk Bay what
their most unexpected hazard was they stated: “the steepness of the terrain…
and the many centipedes and scorpions.” I felt like I hadn’t left home. Good
works everyone…
The
hospitality and support provided by V-Islanders “blew my mind”. Truly warm
& welcoming. Local markets donated fifty turkeys for a community
Thanksgiving potluck in St. John’s Cruz Bay public-park. The challenge was
finding 50 ovens, but they pulled it off and good times were delicious and plentiful.
Most Sunday evenings found local musicians playing in the same space: magic
times. Yes, I did leave a couple of Divine Dog Wisdom card decks behind…
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| JD Swed photo |
NOTE: I didn’t use
individual’s names because there were so many to acknowledge. I didn’t want to
forget anyone (my bad), but one individual I need to mention is JD Swed. Not
just because we go back 40-years (and times in between), but because he reached
out and checked on my availability to be part of this incredible IMT that was
put together (much like in prep for Katrina), In addition, his tireless efforts
for 60+ days as Operations Section Chief (OSC), then Deputy Incident Commander
and back again to OSC across 3 IMT’s was amazing, and certainly worthy of a
“Safety Dude Doo Dah Award” (the check and award are in the mail amigo). I also
didn’t include an “Ugly” category, reserving that for me: remembering my
nickname from Frosh year of college (Glendale CC): “Big Ugly” or “Ug” for
short.
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| Grand Teton Trail Crew |
About
organizations and where you can donate (if you wish):
Love
For Love City Foundation- http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/kenny-chesney-loses-home-hurricane-irma-launches-foundation/story?id=49769695
Employees
& Alumni Association of the National Park Service- www.eandaa.org to donate,
select “Disaster Relief Fund” bar.
Michael
Bloomberg’s involvement- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/21/how-michael-bloomberg-landed-center-virgin-islands-hurricane-recovery/880401001/
My heart remains with ALL of the employees of Virgin
Islands NP & the residents of St. John Island. HAPPY HOLI-days! Safety Dude
will never forget y’all…
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| Trunk Bay beach |
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| Intermountain Region IMT in Dec. |
