On May 20,
2017, WEACT, the Watsonville Emergency Airlift Command Team conducted a
full-scale exercise. A 6.9 magnitude
earthquake in the Santa Cruz mountains was simulated, closing off the roads in
and out of Santa Cruz County, damaging the Watsonville levee system and
shutting down the phone lines, including cell and land lines.
WEACT
self-mobilized to the Watsonville Municipal Airport at 9am. Ground and pilot volunteers arrived throughout
the morning to support WEACT. The flying
conditions were clear skies and no ceiling present. Throughout the exercise, WEACT simulated
various requests as follows:
- Damage assessment of roads in and out of Santa Cruz County
- Damage assessment of the Watsonville levee system
- Pick up Red Cross Comfort Care packages at outlying airports (4 missions)
- Pick up key personnel for the Santa Cruz County EOC staffing
- Search flight for downed aircraft in Eureka Canyon
- Transport a specialized doctor & 100# of his medical equipment, stationed at the Watsonville Community Hospital, to KPAO so he can get to Stanford for an important procedure.
- Transport a 28 year old, 180# man to KTOA for a special medical procedure at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near KTOA. The patient needs no medical attention for the flight.
- Transport Official, Time Sensitive Documents to the Napa County Sherriff
- Pick up a 50# Rescue Dog from CAL FIRE at the Hollister Airport. Send one passenger along to help tend to the dog on the return flight. The dog will be used to search for survivors in the earthquake rubble.
Overall, 12
missions were successfully launched, recorded and tracked for completion. WEACT utilized their newly created
Operational Procedures Manual (see attachment) which incorporates lessons
learned from previous WEACT & DART exercises and table top exercises.
In planning
the May 20th exercise, WEACT Managers coordinated the event with the
Santa Cruz County EOC, Watsonville EOC, Watsonville Policer and Fire Chiefs, Red
Cross and numerous DARTs. Originally, the
SCC EOC had agreed to activate their EOC, and simulate the earthquake scenario
and communicate mission requests to WEACT in an attempt to create a real world
situation. Unfortunately, a few days
before the exercise, the director of the SCC EOC decided they couldn’t work with WEACT because
we weren’t an established organization, meaning a 501.3c tax exempt status
organization. WEACT continued on with
the 5/20/17 exercise by injecting the mission requests in a simulated manner,
on their own.
WEACT has
no funding at this time but is fully supported by the Watsonville Municipal
Airport Manager, Rayvon Williams. KWVI
has provided two old storage containers off the runway for WEACT operations,
installed electrics in the containers and purchased some basic supplies for
WEACT to use. WEACT has collected
numerous donations of tables, shelves, containers, white boards and
miscellaneous items to set up the storage containers so that WEACT can be
activated and start launching missions in the shortest time possible.
The May 20th
exercise was publicized in the Watsonville Pajaronian and the Santa Cruz
Sentinel. The Sentinel article can be
found at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20170520/watsonville-airlift-team-hosts-full-scale-training. KSBW produced a great story about the
exercise: http://www.ksbw.com/article/watsonville-pilots-prepare-for-next-natural-disaster-with-earthquake-simulation-drill/9901596. WEACT achieved their goal of informing the
local community about the positive support WEACT is ready to provide.
In the future,
WEACT plans to work on the following goals:
- 501.3c tax exempt status in order to accept financial donations,
- Achieve DSW, Disaster Service Worker, certification for all WEACT Managers
- Maintain communications between the Santa Cruz County EOC, Watsonville City Manager, Fire & Police Chiefs to remind them that WEACT is a valuable resource for the community.
WEACT has
tentative plans for the following events:
- September 9, 2017 - WEACT Open House (local pilot groups, DARTS, city, and county to be invited)
- December 2, 2017 – WEACT Managers Table Top Exercise
- May 2018 – WEACT Full Scale Exercise
