NAVFAC responds to Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany following tornado

ALBANY — Military neighbors in Florida answered the call when disaster struck Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany last week and have been among those to help the installation along the path to recovery.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast dispatched one military and five civilian personnel to Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany from Naval Air Station Jacksonville and NAS Pensacola last week as part of a Contingency Engineering Response Team (CERT) after the installation took a direct hit from a tornado on Jan. 22.

Gulf Coast Integrated Product Team Technical Branch Head Emil Handzel, Capital Improvements Business Line Supervisory Structural Engineer Kurt Wittman and Capital Improvements Business Line Structural Engineer Tiffany Chastain from Jacksonville volunteered to be a part of the team along with Public Works Department Pensacola Production Officer Lt. Aaron Kotlarz and PWD Pensacola Engineering Technicians Tommy Hampton and Daniel Adams.

“I was asked to contribute my electrical skills to the team and to assist in the disaster recovery process where I could,” Adams said. “I witnessed some pretty unique things, including trees snapped in two like toothpicks and a trailer from a tractor trailer lodged up in a tree. I was glad to be a able to work side by side with so many different types of engineers. It was a great learning experience.”

Kotlarz, a Civil Engineer Corps officer, served as the Officer in Charge for the CERT. He coordinated with MCLB-Albany Public Works for the taskings and support required from NAVFAC.

“I was amazed by just how quickly the Public Works team on the base responded to prioritizing the damage and began the cleanup efforts to get the base back operational,” said Kotlarz. “There were literally hundreds of people working and planning to get the base back in business, and it was awe-inspiring to see the dedication of so many people working so hard to get the base back to its mission.”

The EF3 tornado that impacted MCLB-Albany traveled 71 miles and was on the ground for more than an hour. It was one of several confirmed across southeast Alabama, Southwest Georgia and the Florida Big Bend in the period from Jan. 21-22. Sixteen deaths and numerous injuries were reported in Georgia, including five deaths in Albany.

“The base’s industrial area, which includes the Marine Depot Maintenance Command production plant, sustained extensive damage after a tornado impacted several buildings and knocked out power to some areas of the installation on (Jan. 22),” said Pam Jackson, a spokeswoman for MCLB.

NAVFAC Southeast Production Officer and Disaster Preparedness Officer Lt. Cmdr. Craig Peck said the CERT has Disaster Assessment Teams consisting of structural, electrical and mechanical engineers; architects; roofing specialists; community planners, and construction contract specialists to begin damage assessments.

It is during this phase that debris is removed and basic functions are restored.

“We always have a trained CERT ready to go at a moment’s notice,” said Peck.

Typically, these teams are deployed to assess hurricane or other storm damage to military installations such as was the case in October when teams deployed to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center on Andros Island in the Bahamas, after Hurricane Matthew impacted the facilities there.

“I served as a structural engineer on a DAT,” said Wittman. “We toured various facilities on base and provided a rapid assessment of the tornado and wind damage. We documented this damage to start the process for repairs. We also documented and marked any facilities that we felt were unsafe due to damage so that safety hazards could be avoided and mitigated.”

“There was widespread devastation from tornado damage not only on Albany MCLB but also in the surrounding community. We saw pre-engineered metal buildings that had been reduced to a pile of twisted metal and a mangled CONEX container that the tornado had picked up, bounced across one of our tall warehouse roofs and deposited on the other side of the building in a bent-up mess.

“There were downed and broken trees everywhere and so much debris everywhere that it looked like a war zone.”

The six CERT members returned to their respective bases Sunday and continue to finalize their reports.