West TX Explosion Update

April 25, 2013, 09:03:26 am

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Some of you know that I volunteer for the Red Cross, and it has been a busy year - an update from WEST - there are some DOVE's here (http://www.dovebof.org/) - These are folks that assist at disasters and use their RV's for housing.

Here is an update:

West, Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion

I was on a conference call planning an exercise when text messages started to flood in. There was an explosion in West, a small town North of Waco Texas about 2 hours North of Austin.

Fertilizer Plant Explosion Plume

Volunteer Mike Lynn was driving his truck down I 35 when the explosion occurred. He went immediately to the courthouse to offer his assistance.

Our Mass Care Team (Sheltering & Feeding) was called up and assembled and deployed by 10PM to join resources that were converging on the scene from Waco , Dallas , and Austin. At that time there were no technical requests, and the Incident Command was asking that Red Cross focus on the sheltering part of the explosion.

Kevin headed towards the Joint Assistance Center

The next day I got the call to put together the technology for a Headquarters Office in West for a Disaster Relief Operation that was starting.

So I started out fact finding and ordering. The communications infrastructure was in place, so I was mostly looking for computers, printers, networking, and how to hook all that in. My order in place I rented a mini-van to carry it all from Austin to West and was on my way. The national warehouse for Disaster Services Technology turns out to be in Austin TX.So that was a special case.

The building I was given was a Public Library in West - and that was right next to a courthouse - A tough place to have a headquarters because we had very little space. Also there was a lot of distraction with Senators and Governors and such doing their fly bys. So we went in search of and were offered the basement of a church. We moved there the next day.

Baylor University Volunteer and Friend

First night I was there a DPS officer who was on duty in the restricted zone found this dog wedged between cushions of a couch. Wrapped in his red cross blanket he looks much happier.

Sammy Chavez

Sammy Chavez was using his cell phone to record a video when the explosion happened. His eyesight was probably saved since this protected him from shards of glass.

Plant Explosion - note proximity of apartment complex and school

The school asked Cisco Systems to help them get connectivity reestablished so they could move their students to other schools in the school district. That was great news for me.

We were setting up a joint assistance center with the many religious and NGO organizations that wanted to help. Bridging donors and folks in need is what we are all about.I called Dustin Simmons and Cisco provided their NERV to provide support for wireless communication at the Joint Assistance Center. Another organization ITDRC.org provided customer service for that infrastructure.

http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/gov/NERV_AAG.pdf

In the end government agencies like the VA and Social Security Administration joined this JAC.

Current status is that Reentry into some areas just started yesterday, and a bit more last night Sunday.

This morning (Monday) news reports are that 14 folks are known dead.10 of these were second responders (Fire and EMS ).Over 200 injured and more than 100 remain in hospital.

Apartment Explosion

Sorry for the stream of consciousness and jumping around. Just very busy at the moment. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Kevin (Real) McCoy [KF5FUZ]
("Roscoe Ventura" Jayco Seneca HD SS 34 Diesel 2006; "Toad" Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2007)