Team MacDill mentors Sarasota emergency response leaders

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Vernon L. Fowler Jr.
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

The partnerships established outside of an organization can strengthen it just as much as those within. To further extend its reach into the community, Team MacDill hosted members of the Sarasota County Emergency Services (EMS) team to share its command post and emergency services operations tactics, Dec. 2, 2016 at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

To begin the tour, the EMS team received a briefing on the 6th Air Mobility Wing’s Command Post’s (CP) mission and vision. Various questions were asked concerning CP’s processes and how emergency notifications are distributed to alert the base populace and Tampa community. The CP team further explained the use of daily checklists specifying which entities are notified, and in what order, depending on the situation.

“We’re mainly interested in the day to day processes,” said Jeffrey Lowdermilk, the General

Services Responsible for Fleet, Facility Maintenance, and Warehouse director. “It’s something we don’t currently do because we’re more reactive.”

Additionally, the CP team compared their processes with the Sarasota EMS team in order to provide their civilian counterparts with ideas on how their processes can be improved.

“A lasting relationship between our communities would allow sharing information of mutual benefit in the event of a natural disaster or a major incident,” said Vincent Anderson, a contract emergency management technician with the 6th Civil Engineer Squadron (CES). “This relationship is critical, specifically during a hurricane and possible evacuation. 

“MacDill's Office of Emergency Management needs to work closely with our local partners to provide installation leadership status on the actions of our surrounding communities in order to make accurate and timely decisions.”

The EMS team continued on to the emergency operations center (EOC) after having lunch at the Diner’s Reef dining facility.

They learned from members of the 6th CES the procedures for activating the EOC and how it operates in crisis situations. Maps of the EOC’s area of responsibility were shown as reference points.

Furthermore, EMS members received a brief rundown on how the crisis action team, EOC and on-scene commander communicate when dealing with emergencies.

To conclude the tour, EMS members were escorted to the Crash Fire Station. There they were given a walkthrough of the facility and briefly discussed some of the fire station’s emergency response procedures and capabilities.

Leading up to the visit, there was a collective expectation that the newly established partnership would produce great benefits. The response received from personnel who interacted with the EMS team more than proved that.

“This visit and partnership with the Sarasota Emergency Services is crucial in so many facets,” said Master Sgt. Daniel Raimondo, the superintendent of the Readiness and Emergency Management Flight assigned to the 6th CES. “Being able to share capabilities, common interests and how we collectively prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from major incidents allows us to streamline our interoperability.

“This event enables us to build a cohesive relationship that will be very useful in the future, both short and long term.”