CITY OF TONAWANDA: Residents told details of Spaulding training session

By Neale Gulley<br><a href="mailto:gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Neale</a>

On Nov. 1 a City of Tonawanda hospital that doesn’t exist will “collapse” following an earthquake that never happened, calling on cooperation from a huge array of very real emergency responders.

Hailing from Canada to the U.S. Virgin Islands and points between, roughly 400 civilian responders will work in and around the area. Another 1,300 soldiers will be called in and military style convoys, helicopters and troop staging camps will be visible throughout the area.

While no actual disaster is expected to occur in the City of Tonawanda on the first day of November, things will look and feel that way for almost a week afterward as one of the largest training simulations in area history is planned to be staged in and around the simulated earthquake epicenter at the former Spaulding Fiber complex.

The New York State National Guard will arrive on cue the next day, Nov. 2 to take orders from local authorities and coordinate with agencies like FEMA as a way of guiding community and regional response to the scenario the guard itself thought up. It’s part of what’s called Vigilant Guard, a training campaign sponsored by the National Guard Bureau located at the Pentagon and the U.S. Northern Command. It is billed as “helping the National Guard build relationships with local, state, regional and federal partners against a variety of different homeland security threats.”

Gen. Pat Murphy and Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Paul Flanning spoke to a group of roughly 25 residents and various city and county officials at the Tonawanda High School Auditorium Monday at 7 p.m. to describe their plans.

“There are a lot of things that go with an earthquake that enable you to prepare for other emergencies,” Fanning said, explaining the choice of scenarios.

There’s also the fact that Erie County recently updated its earthquake model concluding that there is a viable earthquake threat here, he said.

But most basically the six-day multi-agency coordinated training scheme is designed to help military, federal and civil authorities work together seamlessly.

Plans for the sprawling statewide emergency training exercise came into focus during the presentation. About 80 percent of the overall operation takes place in the greater Buffalo area, from Niagara Falls to Lockport and south to Buffalo. Fanning said it is possibly the largest military and civilian disaster response exercise the state Guard has ever hosted.

“The excursus is broader than at Spaulding Fiber alone,” he said.

Locations for communications teams, troop reception infrastructure inspection and civil support command posts will spring up on both sides of the Erie and Niagara County line for the duration.

But at the center of it all is the former Spaulding Fibre site in the City of Tonawanda, which on Nov. 1 will be completely overhauled to represent the look of a hospital facility with a parking garage that has collapsed after a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, pinning survivors and vehicles beneath the rubble.

“It’s a very, very rare opportunity for us to get that kind of training as a city,” City of Tonawanda Mayor Ron Pilozzi said.

The guard will, ironically, be bringing in a large quantity of its own rubble to make up an isolated useable portion of the former industrial complex along Hinds Street. The interior of the complex will not be disturbed as the Superfund site has been in the process of cleanup and demolition for years with plans for redevelopment. The section running along Hinds Street will be set up to resemble a collapsed hospital complex.

A convoy staging area will be set up on the far side of Wheeler Street across from the former factory, but no significant operations will occur there.

At the high point of the simulation, an estimated maximum 450 people are expected to converge at Spaulding.

A local junkyard has donated cars that will be mixed in with the debris so responders can practice pulling them out.

There will be ambulance and helicopter transports, convoys and decontamination training at a separate location in Lockport.

As Gen. Murphy explained, the daily schedule will go something like this: Nov.1, earthquake hits. Nov. 2: guardsmen fly in to area airports, set up staging camps such as at Niagara Falls Air Base. Nov. 2 through 5: Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., activity at the site including two ambulances per day running simulated casualties based on the scenario. Nov. 3 through 5: Helicopter evacuation drills from landing pad at Firemen’s Park. Each and every day state police escorted convoys will move to and from the site, following an outside loop around the city.

The convoy route was decided with school bus routes in mind, in order not to disturb such services.

“All of our simulations will go out and around the schools,” Murphy said. “We’re avoiding anything that has to do with the schools.”

Generators will be a fixture of events, as will cranes working to simulate extraction. Most of the noise will take place during the day, with one night drill to help area responders earn specific certifications.

The evacuation route runs from Hinds, up Wheeler Street, left on Niagara Street and down Two Mile Creek Road to the helicopter landing zone.

To head off confusion or fear of a real catastrophe, postcards are being mailed to every resident in the city, explaining what to expect and when. Printed on the cards is contact information for the state guard, including a Web site at www.dmna.state.ny.us/vigilantguard. Also, residents can obtain details by calling (518) 786-4581.

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.

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