Florida National Guard Media Advisory
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (5/8/2007) - The Florida National Guard has more than 9,000 Soldiers and Airmen, along with sufficient equipment, to effectively respond to emergencies as directed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The Florida National Guard greatly appreciates the efforts of our elected officials being so instrumental in getting the equipment we need for combat operations, before and now, and in-turn having sufficient equipment for emergency operations in Florida.
It is true we are short equipment, compared to an "authorized" list for combat. We need this equipment to enhance training and speed up our response to local emergencies, helping to save lives.
For domestic operations, we are in a better readiness condition to respond to the citizens of Florida in 2007 than we were during the record-breaking hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. If required, we can obtain additional units and equipment under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) as we did in 2004 and 2005.
In the case of a major hurricane, we plan to have these other assets pre-positioned prior to landfall, or moving to Florida as soon as possible. However, we cannot afford any additional, significant losses of equipment. Losing more equipment from Florida to support our active duty mobilization sites will put us at risk to respond effectively to our state during a time of great need. No doubt we will monitor these situations closely.
Bottom line - Saving lives and protecting property is what Floridians expect the National Guard to do. As directed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, we will be there when needed. We will work with all of our local, county and state response agencies to ensure we bring the necessary resources to any emergency.
Concerning the current response to wildfires, the Florida National Guard currently has two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters out of Brooksville performing water drops primarily around Flagler County. Today they had dropped nearly 100,000 gallons of water through more than 120 missions, since Saturday.
We anticipate having five to six helicopters operational Thursday. We're also working plans to bring two UH-60 Black Hawks from South Carolina and one UH-60 from Georgia, along with water buckets. Plus, we are mobilizing two 30-person teams from the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, headquartered in Orlando.
The first of the teams will begin reporting Wednesday and they'll be ready for employment in support of the Florida Division of Forestry around Sunday. The second group is expected to report Monday. We don't anticipate these teams working the front-line fires but behind the lines helping reinforce forestry operations. Other support duties may also be assigned.