By Justin Creech
Staff Writer
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Several severe weather situations have come through the Northern Virginia area in recent weeks which has caused many residents at Fort Belvoir to inquire if there is a response plan in place on post.
According to the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security response procedures are in place to deal with potential relocation or evacuation situations, however an all out evacuation of the instillation would be the absolute the last option.
“That’s not going to be one of our first choices,” said DPTMS Emergency Management Specialist, Mario Sumter. “If you go back in history to the 1950s the closest winds we get are like 70mph. We don’t really get the hurricane force winds within a 70 mile radius of this particular area. Our first choice would be to provide shelter here on the installation because the best thing to do is to actually stay in place.”
Specker Field House and Wells Field House are two locations on post that would be used to shelter residents in the event of relocation; however Sumter said residents will be placed wherever space can be found.
“All of that depends on what the specific situation is.” said Sumter.
Residents would be encouraged to get to the shelter areas on their own, however if they do not have a means of transportation, or are unable to get out of there community Directorate of Logistics will provide transportation.
Residents in need of transportation in a relocation situation would need to get the Directorate of Emergency Services at (703) 806-3104, or Fire and Emergency Services at (703) 781-1800.
Any decision to relocate residents on post or evacuate them off post will be made by the garrison commander. At that time, DPTMS will serve as the staff proponent for Emergency Evacuation Operations.
Several means of communication will be utilized to notify residents and employees on post of emergency response actions at the order of the garrison commander.
The “Giant Voice” system will be used to notify those on post who are outside while those that are inside are encouraged to turn to 1610 am, the Fort Belvoir page on Facebook and even call the information hotline at (703) 805-3030. There is another option that Pinnacle Housing residents are encouraged to sign up for called the OneCallNow system.
“We need to encourage people to use the official sources of communication,” said Director of the Residential Community Liaison Office, Brian Smith. “Additionally, our privatized housing partner, Pinnacle, employs the OneCall now system and residents are encouraged to sign up for this service as an additional unofficial information source.”
Traffic control points would be set up at Telegraph Gate, Kingman Gate, Meers Gate, Tulley Gate and Woodlawn Gate in order to get residents safely off post. Residents are encouraged to have emergency readiness kits prepared in case of an evacuation.
“We would know days ahead of time if we had to do an evacuation,” said Sumter. “It’s also based on the situation because if a tornado hits they may not get any advanced warning.”
Items to include in the readiness kits are at least one gallon of water a day for at least three days per Family member, non-perishable food items for at least three days per Family member, a flashlight as well as a battery powered or hand crank radio and a cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger. Having extra cash is also encouraged.
“Storms can knock out electric power, and you’re not going to be able to get money from an ATM,” said Sumter. “Most recommend having enough cash on hand if you have to evacuate an area so you have enough money to put gas in the car to get you down the road away from the hazardous area, or have enough if you need to purchase a small item along the way.”
Residents are also encouraged to have an out of town contact in place so they have somewhere to go once they’ve left the instillation.
If residents do not have contacts off post and must stay in off-post lodging, reimbursement is possible.
Procedures must be followed by both the command (authorizing official and military personnel officials) and the member/dependent to trigger evacuation allowances. Military personnel offices will be involved in creating orders, and finance officials will ultimately be responsible for accepting reimbursement requests and approving disbursements.
Upon authorization/orders from an authorizing official (this includes a U.S. installation commander as well as other officials specifically enumerated in the Joint Federal Travel Regulation), eligible military dependents are authorized travel and transportation allowances to a CONUS limited evacuation/safe have location as specified by the commander or military official in accordance with the JFTR.
Some specific conditions apply for entitlement to dependent evacuation allowances. Dependents are authorized evacuation allowances only if the dependent actually evacuates. Dependent evacuation orders should indicate the applicable limited evacuation/safe haven location. If an eligible evacuated dependent stays with friends or relatives while at the safe haven location, no lodging reimbursement is allowed.
Civilian employees and their dependents may be eligible for reimbursements of costs incurred for travel and transportation expenses if they receive an order from the Installation Commander or other authorized official. The evacuation order must indicate the departure and return timeframe of the evacuation.
Residents who have pets are to move their animals to an identified kennel in the event of relocation.
“They have the responsibility of identifying a place or kennel that will take care of their pets,” said Sumter. “We can’t house the pets with the personnel in the shelter facilities on the installations.”
