Lone Star Incident Management Team Responds to Katrina

Editors Note: At the time of this writing the Lone Star Team was still deployed in Texas and South Western Louisiana for Hurricane Rita, this report details their efforts in response to supporting the FEMA and Texas operations for Hurricane Katrina)

The Lone Star State Incident Management Team (LSSIMT) is a group of Texas Forest Service employees specially trained for deployment to any disaster in Texas or around the country. The team members are qualified to carry out functions involving command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance - all of which are part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) used to organize and direct the safe response to a disaster.

On September 1, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tasked the 67-member LSSIMT to take over the receiving and distribution of food, water and ice to the entire area in Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina, which is all communities south and east of Baton Rouge, including greater New Orleans. The LSSIMT has distributed 643,625 gallons of water, 565,750 eight-pound bags of ice, 2,046,407 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) to about 302,380 people. In one day alone, they distributed 140,125 gallons of water, 123,750 eight-pound bags of ice, and 440,316 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) to 56,432 citizens of Louisiana in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA also tasked the LSSIMT with establishing base camp near Hammond, Louisiana, for emergency responders working in the New Orleans area. The base camp will provide caterers, showers and accommodations for the responders. A second regional center was established south of Lake Ponchatrain. Texas Forest Service's LSSIMT is experienced in this aspect of incident command and management after having served as the lead state agency in the Columbia Shuttle Recovery effort in 2003. At that time, they established five, self-sustaining base camps in East Texas and moved 25,000 search and support personnel to and from the base camps over a three-month period.

The number of responders housed at the Regional Staging Area in Hammond operated by the Lone Star State IMT has grown to 800, with more National Guard personnel expected soon to bring the total close to 1,500. The Texas Forest Service currently has 85 personnel in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas in support of the Hurricane Katrina rescue and recovery effort.