NYC First Responders Train with US Army for Disaster Preparedness

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

The US Army and New York’s first responders had a training program, preparing for “America’s worst day.”

As reported by the NY Post, the “Dense Urban Terrain Exercise” prepped New York for the worst possible scenarios, including the possibility of a missile attack on Yankee Stadium or a biological weapon attack in the subway system.  “Everybody needs to get back to training,” said Col. Chris McKinney, chief of staff of the Army’s Task Force 46. “And you see the happiness on the kids’ faces ’cause they’re getting to practice their craft, and they’re getting to learn it from the best in the business,” McKinney added.  “So, I mean, FDNY, NYPD here — they’ve done so much stuff”.

The three-day training exercise on Randall’s Island, which ended on Thursday, had city firefighters, NYPD and Port Authority cops working with National Guard troops to prepare for anything.  The exercises weren’t so farfetched considering the catastrophes that NYC has already seen, including the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, and the accidental steam pipe explosion in 2018 which spread asbestos in the subway system tunnels and forced the evacuation of 50 Midtown buildings.

Task Force 46, which was formed in 2013, practiced chemical decontamination, search and rescue missions, as well as rescuing mannequins from collapsed buildings.  “Speed is critical…This would undoubtedly be America’s worst day,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Stone of the training last year.  “Lives saved are counted in minutes, and the capabilities that the Army brings to bear can save those lives.”

More than 170 Soldiers from 12 Army National Guards and two Army Reserve units with military police, engineering, medical, logistics and HAZMAT-response capabilities participated in the training program.  The training featured collaboration and communication between the different departments.  “They speak Army, we speak fire department,” FDNY Battalion Chief Edward Ryan said. “So, by training together we get to understand each other’s lingo.”  “Little things, like we have what we call a FAST Team, which is firefighter assist team,” Ryan continued. “They call (it) a RIT, or rapid intervention team. Same basic idea, different terminology. So, by doing that today, I now know if I hear that.”

“It’s relationships, right?” McKinney said of the training. “You’ve got to bring credibility and trust to the table. And that’s something that’s near and dear to our hearts with these partners. Should we ever have to respond — and that’s why we train — we need to know what we’re doing, we need to know how to plug in to support a city.”