FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Fort Campbell conducts a full-scale weather related emergency response exercise today.
More than 10 garrison directorates and division assets are partnering with off-post emergency services to practice an integrated response to a notional real-life event caused by the touchdown of an F-3 tornado at Fort Campbell.
Exercises such as this are conducted on an annual basis, and are used to evaluate the installation’s ability to respond to various extreme emergency situations, while measuring response time and situational preparedness.
The exercise will not only satisfy the Army’s Emergency Management Full-Scale Exercise requirement, but also the U.S. Army Medical Command mass casualty exercise requirement.
In years past the focus has been on antiterrorism and active shooter scenarios, but this year has shifted to natural disaster, specifically a tornado touchdown. In 2014, Kentucky was ranked 14th and Tennessee 20th in the nation for tornado occurrences, making tornadoes a serious natural hazard for Fort Campbell, as well as the people who live and work on the installation.
The post-wide exercise begins about 8 a.m. as a hypothetical tornado devastates the area in the vicinity of Campbell Army Airfield. The scenario includes severe damage to buildings, fires and more than 40 casualties involving Soldiers and civilians. Role-players will depict real-life casualties that would be at ground-zero were a tornado to hit Fort Campbell.
Including Soldiers and civilians in the scenario will give on-post agencies the opportunity to train on handling diverse demographics and become better prepared to support Soldiers, Families and civilians during times of emergency.
Fort Campbell’s fire and emergency services have mutual aid agreements with every jurisdiction that touches the installation. Montgomery County Emergency Medical Services will be one of many local agencies participating in the full-scale exercise, and also would be called upon in the event of a real-life disaster or emergency to assist on-post assets. Other civilian agencies participating in the exercise include Christian County Emergency Management Agency, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross.
Although this is a post-wide exercise, major traffic delays are not anticipated, but drivers should be aware of an increased presence of emergency vehicles.