Disaster Management
dse has provided management skills and personnel to assist with a wide variety of emergency response actions ranging from small chemical spills at commercial facilities to massive recovery and cleanup efforts for federal, state and local agencies.
Hurricane Katrina, Rita, Ike, and Gustav Response
U.S. EPA SUPERFUND TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE TEAM (START) REGION 6 AND WESTON SOLUTIONS, INC. (PRIME CONTRACTOR)
SOUTHERN AND WESTERN LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN TEXAS
As a First Tier Subcontractor, dse participated in the U.S. EPA Unified Command Response following the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike since September 2005. The total response from dse has included over 190 individuals in 120 environmental professional positions at five command centers. dse activities included interfacing daily with staff at all levels of the EPA as well as representatives of the LDEQ, TCEQ, Corps of Engineers, National Guard, and other responding agencies.
dse initially had six first response “Strike Team” personnel on-site as of September 2, 2005 to help WESTON set up the EPA Command Center in the LDEQ Baton Rouge office. dse also performed many upper level functions until appropriate EPA personnel arrived. Initial personnel performed their duties under difficult situations for an extended period until such basic provisions were available including: clogged land lines, lack of cell phone coverage and basic necessities, such as hotel rooms, fuel and food availability, transportation, and etc, dse’s tasks included conducting safety planning; logistics; resources, accounting, assistance in planning and supervising the HHW; IT documentation and GIS support; public relations for officials about environmental issues and helping EPA Command and WESTON to organize and manage the IAP and Situation Report preparations throughout the project.
During the hurricanes Ike/Gustav response, dse provided field personnel to assist with recon and recovery of hazardous materials storage containers throughout southern Louisiana and Texas.
Space Shuttle Columbia Recovery
U.S. EPA SUPERFUND TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE TEAM (START) REGION 6 AND WESTON SOLUTIONS, INC. (PRIME CONTRACTOR)
EAST TEXAS
After the tragic breakup of the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003, dse was called upon as an EPA START subcontractor to Weston Solutions, Inc. to provide personnel to help locate, document, and recover parts of the Columbia Shuttle in Texas and Louisiana. As the scope of the recovery efforts grew, dse was tasked with recruiting other small firms to provide personnel to the five ICPs located from north central Texas to east Texas. dse coordinated with over 20 firms to provide personnel for administrative, data processing, and field recovery duties to the various ICPs that needed them. The field recovery operations consisted of “point recovery” and “search and recover” phases. The point recovery phase entailed small teams comprised of one representative each from the EPA, NASA and START and two to three hazmat technicians, utilizing global positioning systems and dead reckoning to locate previously identified but unrecovered shuttle parts. The search and recovery phase entailed larger teams comprised of representatives from EPA, NASA, START, hazmat technicians, and twenty-person crews of USFS fire fighters.
When a part was located, the USFS personnel would alert START and NASA personnel to determine if the piece in question actually was a part of the Columbia and if the part in question posed any special hazards or handling needs. If the piece in question was determined to be nonhazardous, it was assigned a unique identification number, located with a hand-held GPS unit, photographed, sealed in an appropriate container, and then transported to a central collection depot located at each ICP for further processing and evaluation by NASA personnel. Hazardous pieces, or other items requiring special handling, were identified, their locations were marked and safeguarded, and an appropriate team of hazmat or other specialists were called upon and dispatched immediately to handle the item properly.
Florida Hurricane Cleanup Effort
SEMINOLE, DUVALL, AND CLAY COUNTIES, FLORIDA
dse was subcontracted to provide project management, site health and safety orientations, and personnel and equipment. The project entailed debris removal and disposal following a series of hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. dse’s initial tasks included base line environmental sampling of air, surface water and sediments, safety planning, logistics assistance, and emergency response recon, assistance.
