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Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City and nearby regions.
The Olympic Rings against the mountains surrounding
SLC
Deployed Members
Seven members of DMAT OH-5 have been deployed.
One physician, one nurse, two EMT-P, and one EMT-B that will make up a
medical strike team. They with other strike teams from across the country
will be in support of the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command. One
team officer member also joined the MST to serve as Communications Operations
Officer. An additional logistics member was deployed to help at the
OEP warehouse to receive and store returning equipment from the Olympics.
Deployment History
The five members of the OH-5 DMAT strike team deployed
to Salt Lake City on the morning of Tuesday, February 5 arriving
about 2:30 MT. Flying in separate groups they met and then
were transported to the NDMS staging area. They found the temperature
was about 20 degrees with some snow on the ground and in the foothills.
A cold welcome
The groups were then processed and given ID cards, cell
phone, pagers, two way radios, and a 4-wheel drive vehicles. They also
issued each member a fleece jacket, Gortex bibs and parka, and fleece-lined
bomber cap.
Quartermaster Issues Cold Weather Gear
Three of the group were assigned to a one condo, which
when they arrived, they found held only two people. After unpacking,
the group went out to eat and to shop for supplies for the condo.
Home sweet home.
Wednesday, they requested a cot for the third member
from the Management Support Team (MST) and the condo was ready for three.
The OH-5 medical strike team was assigned afternoon and evening duties,
with their first full shift being scheduled for Thursday. As such,
after the NDMS briefing that took most of the day, they were told to check
out the local area and become familiar with the region.
Ski Jumps
Thursday, they found security to already
be quite tight in the area. After spending a small amount of time on the
road they reported to their base of operations called "the Store",
spending the rest of the evening reading and talking. From here on
out the expectation is that things would be pretty uneventful.
"The store", where the group called home for each
shift. When not training, the group watched television or played cards.
Friday, Olympics ceremony started at 8 this
evening and the group watches on the opening on TV. They reported, "we
had a hard time getting breakfast in the am due to getting out the door
late and lots of folks already in the restaurants." They had
pretty strong winds in the morning which caused a lot of problems for the
Olympic games. Teams received their LP-12, thomas packs, and airway kit
during the afternoon so went through them checking the contents.
Thomas Packs lined up ready to go
It was snowing when they got up that morning and continued
snowing all day long into the late night. Temperatures once again dropped
below zero at night. Good thing they had their winter parka system
supplied by NDMS. They pretty much stayed in the store during the
day but got to go out and shop at a couple of the stores that are in the
complex near the store.
Sunday, the team trained in Critical Incident Stress
Management (CISM).
Mock CISM
Monday, members switched gears and had a specialist
come in from Denver who trained them in riot management for four hours.
They went over riot techniques, riot gear, different tools used for riot
control. The instructor described what some of the "professional" demonstrators
do to incite riots and how law enforcement responds.
The teams were notified tonight by the FBI, as was the
nation, of a possible terrorist attack on Tuesday. No one knows anything
other than being told the potential is very high that it could target the
Olympic games.
Tuesday, the teams attended classes on chem/bio
provided by a NRMT-Central team member. The training session was described
as "well done." Despite the alert for a posible terrorist attack
this day, none occured to the relief of all. Reguarding the winter clothing
that was issued, Brian stated, "We have been carrying them around
in trash bags in our assigned vehicle in case we go somewhere cold or outside
for an extended period of time. We will turn them in on Friday when
they outprocess us."
Friday, Brian stated, "I am down at the Park
City post and our relief folks are supposed to be here anytime - they had
to go down to Salt Lake City for a briefing and then come up here. We will
orient them to our equipment and responsibilities and then we are out of
here. Will go back to the condo finish packing and then will go back
to Park City. We have to be up at 3am and outside the condo at 4am
to get to the airport in the shuttle buses. So will make for a long
day! We only had one extra person in our room - that is four people
in a one bedroom condo - there is a line for the bathroom, but that too
will be short lived."
The OH-5 Strike Team assembled
Saturday, the group returned safely to their homes
in the Dayton region. Meanwhile, our Team Commander was leaving Dayton
to join the Communications section of the MST in Salt Lake City for the
remainder of the deployment.
Entrance to the staging for the Warehouse Operation
On arrival, Bill went straight to work learning the operation
of the Communications section of the MST. Members of this group were
drawn from North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Hawaii, Alabama, California,
New York and Georgia.
Flags from a few of the many teams who responded to
SLC adorned the team staging area
The first thing they did was split into shifts and assign
positions. Then, the outgoing team briefed the incoming team on schedules
and operations. "We were a little cramped in a small office, with
our location dictated by the phone switch, and access to the roof antennas.",
stated Bill. A pretty good sized computer network had been set up
within the building, with Communications maintaining the network. They
also had the conventional Commo deployment package, augmwented by a Fire
Service portable radio cache, Nextel radio phones and pages. They
also had direct radio contact and computer network contact with the State
EOC.
The MST Communications Section
It wasn't long before the Communications Section was involved
in two missions. The Noble, GA crematorium scandal was unfolding,
and a DMORT response was dispatched before the week had ended. Sid
was diverted to Nobel, and Bob left them to go to the site also.
Surplus equipment was packed and sent to Georgia, and new OEP staff cars
were equipped for shipment to Georgia.
OEP Staff Vehicle
Much of the last week was spent fine-tuning their alert
and activation, and drilling for a response. The week culminated
by pre-deploying some resources for a ready response to the closing ceremonies.
DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson was among the Distinguished
visitors to the NDMS Operations.
The DHHS Emergency Operations Communications bus made
its first appearance in SLC for the Olympic response.
Lessons learned were reviewed with Team commanders
and MST Officers in a "Hot Wash" after action review meeting.
Closing Ceremonies were quite impressive, with the
entire mountain range lit up with a massive fireworks display.
Related Links
CNN
/ Sports Illustrated Olympic Coverage
MSNBC
/ ESPN Features
Utah Olympic Public
Safety Command |
