U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Corpus Christi work on emergency power
exercise
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers combined forces
with the Corpus Christi Emergency Management Office in an exercise that
determined the area's capability to provide emergency power following a
major disaster.
Elements of the 249th Engineer Battalion, the only
active-duty battalion in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, headquartered
at Ft. Belvoir, VA, were in the Coastal Bend area until March 1 to conduct
emergency power assessments of critical government buildings and
facilities. The assessments included police and fire stations, water and
wastewater facilities, potential shelters and assistance centers and other
similar facilities.
The assessment teams worked out of a temporary
operations center located at the Corps' Southern Area Office, North
Chapparal St., Corpus Christi.
As part of the Corps emergency management planning,
assessments such as this provides the Corps with a database of emergency
power requirements for critical facilities throughout the United States.
While the Corps capability to provide emergency power is only used to
supplement state and local capabilities, the Corps is frequently requested
to provide emergency power assistance following a major disaster. Over a
dozen soldiers from the 249th were in Houston last year helping the City
of Houston and the State of Texas provide emergency power at the Texas
Medical Center after the flooding from Tropical Storm Allison.
A valuable training opportunity accompanies the
assessment exercise. The 249th soldiers are able to train one-on-one with
local facilities managers to learn about the types of city and county
facilities they might see if deployed to this area following a hurricane
disaster.
"While many of the most critical facilities have
emergency generators, the information collected in these assessments will
be invaluable to the Corps emergency emergency planning effort in support
of the Federal Response Plan," said Gus Marinos, chief of the Corps'
emergency management office in Galveston.
Similar assessments were conducted in the
Houston/Galveston area in 1999 and 2000 and became part of the Corps'
disaster planning program.
The 249th is a multi-component unit with Active duty
and U.S. Army Reserve soldiers. The battalion generates and distributes
prime electrical power in support of warfighting, disaster relief,
stability and support operations as well as provides advice and technical
assistance in all aspects of electrical power and distribution systems. It
also maintains Army power generation and distribution war reserves.
The Battalion Commander of the 249th Engineer
Battalion (Prime Power) is also the Commandant of the U.S. Army Prime
Power School located at Fort Belvoir, VA. The Prime Power School conducts
the Prime Power Production Course, a year-long training program for Active
and Reserve soldiers, and Navy Seabees. Upon graduation, Army personnel
are awarded MOS 52E20 and Navy personnel are awarded NEC 5633. Students
earn over 30 semester hours of college credit while attaining the
knowledge and skills associated with installing, operating, and
maintaining large medium voltage electrical power plants.
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