November 2024 - Ohio TERT

Meeting

The team met in Columbus at Franklin County EMA on November 20th to conduct an after-action debriefing regarding our recent deployment to

Unloading

Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina. Committee Chair Nick DiCicco lead a discussion on the good, bad, and ugly, from first standby alert to the return of the last resource in October. This was a significant deployment for our taskforce; nearly double the manpower was required for this activation compared to Lee County or the US Virgin Islands deployments. A majority of the team was able to attend, including Noah Ash. We acknowledged the things that went well, and also spoke openly of the areas that could stand improvement. While we are incredibly proud of what our team was able to accomplish, there is always space to improve. And, a lot of that improvement derives from experience. Going into this deployment, information was difficult to come by, and was sometimes contradictory. Plainly, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. So, a chance to improve on that area for next time. Having personnel from Ohio MARCS along was also identified as a specific area of pride, and both of those members were noted for their work in restoring badly needed communications in the area.

One of the other areas we discussed was establishing regional TERT teams around the state. The purpose is twofold: firstly, to try to more equally balance out the team membership composition across the state, and secondly, to enable these teams to cover regional intrastate events, such as LODD events, or acute emergencies in a specific jurisdiction. The regions would align to the current Ohio Homeland Security regions, and each would have a coordinator that would be the designated team contact for their part of the state.

After lunch, the team went to the Columbus Department of Public Safety logistics warehouse to offload the tent loaned to us by Franklin County EMA. We inflated the tent inside one of the apparatus washing bays, and scrubbed, wiped, and washed this monster up and down. We left it inflated with a large fan running to dry it overnight, and a second crew returned Wednesday after the Ohio APCO/NENA meeting to collapse it, dry it off, and reload the tent back aboard the EMA trailer at the logistics warehouse. We again acknowledge and express thanks to Franklin County EMA for the use of the tent, and to Columbus Fire for allowing the use of the wash bay.

Taking down the state flag.

The entire Taskforce is now back in Ohio, after OH-2 and the remaining members from OH-1 returned on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday night, the team has a celebratory dinner along with the arriving logistics crew at a local Asheville restaurant to both celebrate what we view as a successful deployment, but to also honor and memorialize the overwhelming loss the region has suffered. Our work in Buncombe County has completed, but so very much remains to be done during the time ahead,.

The main drop point was in Cambridge around 4PM, but vehicles and various stuffs were being returned well into the evening. Upon returning to Orange Village in Cuyahoga County, team lead Nick DiCicco did an interview with Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW-TV. Nick gave discussion on the work the team did, but also provided some insight into the loss that has been endured in the region.

Outbound.

Lots of mixed emotions on returning back home- to loved ones, to work, to life. Lots of relationships forged with personnel from Buncombe County, Asheville, other TERT personnel, and folks at the camp. The personnel on both teams became like family to one another. The conditions at camp in many ways helped the team to be able to empathize with the community and folks they were interacting with. Having a home taken away – no place to rest or feel secure – is a jarring, traumatic experience, to say the least. Despite all the training the team brought to bear, it can still be difficult to establish a trusting relationship with a disaster victim without having some measure of the lived experience yourself. Becoming adopted members of the greater Asheville community gave the team a sense of responsibility and ownership while working along side their Buncombe Cunty counterparts.

TERT and tactical communications personnel remain at Buncombe County, and likely will for quite awhile. As mentioned, the road ahead to recovery for the entire region across North Carolina and Tennessee will take a significant amount of time. Too, ‘recovery’ will have a different look for each person, family, and community. The area has irrevocably changed as a result of Helene, so recovery may also include adjusting to a new sense of normality.

The team is set to reconvene later in November to conduct a post incident debriefing to clean supplies, go over the good, the bad, and the ugly for this deployment, and see what the path ahead for Ohio TERT looks like. As ever, we express thanks to each Member’s home agency and their leadership for allowing their personnel to deploy. Likewise, we acknowledge the partner agencies who lent stuffs, vehicles, and other Members for support and logistics. Our state level partners – Ohio MARCS, Ohio EMA, Ohio DPS – also played an important coordination role, and in MARCS’ case, sent people and equipment to help restore communications.

Thank you, a thousand times over.

#NCStrong

#WeAreOhioTERT

Debriefing Meeting

Terra Firma