PTF Responds to 1,000-Year Flood in West Virginia
On June 25th, 2016, President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Declaration for Individual Assistance and Public Assistance for the Greenbrier, Kanawha, and Nicholas Counties of West Virginia due to the impact by severe flooding caused by heavy rains which took 25 lives, destroyed many homes, and left more than 22,000 without electricity. The Pathfinders Task Force (PTF) has been tasked into Greenbrier County to assist the 11,000 acre Greenbrier Resort historic landmark as the Incident Command for response and initial recovery options.
Sample of Assessment Operations Using Virtual Badge
PTF first focused on Family Support Services for the 1,800 employees of the Greenbrier Resort. To assist in conducting rapid damage assessments, Greenbrier’s Chief Operations Officer chose to have his personnel rapidly trained in the use of the Virtual Badge software and dispatched to document the impact of this historic flood. With 30 minutes of training, including an operations and safety briefing by the Pathfinders Task Force Commander, Greenbrier staff conducted damage assessment operations spread across the 11,000 acre Resort. The time/date stamped and geocoded forms and pictures were an excellent source for resource allocation and insurance claims documentation.
Sample of Assessment Operations Using Virtual Badge
PTF was then tasked through the Greenbrier County Division of Emergency Management to the Greenbrier Resort to assist in establishing and managing a Type III Point of Distribution to cover 50% of the population of Greenbrier County. The West Virginia National Guard, WV Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, WV State Police, Greenbrier Office of Emergency Management, and FEMA all have had liaison meetings with PTF in partnering for its on-going relief operations in response to this historic flooding incident. In assuming the Incident Command position for a large private corporation, PTF quickly formed a true private/public partnership with these agencies and has had measurable impact in managing the response to this incident.
