A large scale exercise tests multiple agencies prepare to keep Floridians safe.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (September 14, 2016) – Firefighters and 48th CST members suit up to seach the area for the simulated threat during Operation Stone Crab at the Charlotte Sports Park.

FL, UNITED STATES
09.14.2016
Story by Staff Sgt. Christopher Milbrodt
Florida National Guard Public Affairs Office

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (September 14, 2016) – Time spent at a baseball stadium is usually full of laughter, cheers, the smell of the concessions and the sound of America’s favorite pastime being played. However, as people move about the stadium enjoying the game, everything can change in an instant. Once cheering fans can end up gasping for air and scrambling about the stadium trying to make sense of what happened.
Recently, smoke and calls for help filled the air as a horde of volunteers from the local community and students from Charlotte Technical College rushed towards the firefighters who were the first to arrive on the scene. In the midst of the chaos, firefighters worked to safely get the people away from the stadium and begin medical assessments while at the same time addressing the cause for alarm.
The situation was designed as a training exercise between law enforcement and firefighters from all over the state, as well as members of the Florida National Guard, to simulate a Weapons of Mass Destruction attack. Exercise officials took more than four months to plan every detail to make the training as realistic as possible.
“As a Civil Support Team, one of our main missions is to integrate with the first responding agencies,” said Army Capt. Christopher Atherton, 48th CST Operations Officer. “The reason we conduct exercises like this is to facilitate the coordination between the Florida National Guard and our local responders should an event like this occur.”
As the exercise progressed, more agencies were called in to deal with the problem presented while evaluators monitored the performance of the participants.
“Today’s event was designed to exceed the capabilities of the local resources and require them to reach out to mutual aid resources for help,” said Jason Fair, Deputy Chief for Charlotte County Fire and Emergency Medical Services. “With it being a WMD attack, its right up the alley of the National Guard’s Civil Support Teams.”
With terrorist events like this becoming commonplace throughout the world, these exercises make sure our responders are ready for anything.
“One of the key focuses of this exercise is to ensure the civilians of Florida are safe and should a complex coordinated attack happen, all the responders know each other by their first names and have worked with each other before,” said Atherton. “We stand ready and prepared should something like this ever occur.”

Joint Task Force-Bravo honors fallen emergency services personnel during 9/11 ceremony

Members of Joint Task Force-Bravo’s Joint Security Forces, Medical Element and Fire Emergency Services march together during a silent parade held in honor of the emergency services personnel who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, before the start of the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, Sept. 9, 2016. More than 200 service members met in the JSF compound and marched in the silent parade to the 612th Air Base Squadron's fire department. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Siuta B. Ika)

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, HONDURAS
09.13.2016
Story by Staff Sgt. Siuta Ika
Joint Task Force Bravo

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras - Members of Joint Task Force-Bravo joined representatives of the Honduran Fire Department here Sept. 9 to honor the 447 first responders who lost their lives in the service of others as a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Before the formal remembrance ceremony began, more than 200 service members met in JTF-Bravo's Joint Security Forces compound and marched in a silent parade to the 612th Air Base Squadron's fire department.

Following the silent parade, U.S. Army Col. Brian Hughes, JTF-Bravo commander, shared his thoughts about the day that forever changed the people of the U.S. and, particularly, the armed forces.

“On that early fall morning, the United States endured a ferocious blow; a blow that reeked of cowardice, a blow that required immediate action. The New York Police and Fire Departments, along with federal, state and municipal employees of all first responder organizations in New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania bravely answered the first call to action,” Hughes said. “Through brilliant interagency collaboration, the United States intelligence and law enforcement communities swiftly identified who was responsible for this terrible act and with skillful diplomatic engagements, a strong and unbreakable coalition was formed, and further action was taken.”

“It took a long time, but those directly responsible for the tragic events that unfolded on September eleventh had justice served upon them,” Hughes continued. “Our military has grown exponentially in capability and experience since that day. Our service members are smarter, stronger and more skilled with their weapons and their minds than ever before. But the fight is not over, and many of you will return to the battlefield upon completion of this assignment... You all have answered the call and I hope you can take some time on September eleventh to remember those who also answered the call and are no longer with us.”

After Hughes' speech, members of JSF, 612th ABS Fire Emergency Services, and the JTF-Bravo Medical Element folded an American flag, laid it to rest on the ceremony's emergency services monument, and rendered a salute to the fallen heroes.

To close the ceremony, a Fire Emergency Services member performed the striking of the “four fives,” which consists of five bell strikes, repeated in four series. The custom is a fire service tradition which dates back to the 1800's, and is a form of rendering final honors to departed comrades.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyeonee Russell, 612th ABS firefighter, said he was in fourth grade at the time and didn't fully understand the severity of what was happening until he saw his uncle, who was an Army Ranger, packing his bags to leave. Russell also said he's participated in a 9/11 remembrance ceremony every year since he joined the military as his way to honor those who lost their lives on that fateful day 15 years ago.

“Everything that happened that day showed America's heart, and I actually have met a firefighter who was at ground zero that day,” Russell said. “I hugged him, shook his hand and told him I will always try my best to emulate him and all of the firefighters who were there.”

One pilot dead, a second injured in U-2 spy plane crash in rural Northern California

An aircraft assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base and on a training mission went down on the lower slopes of the Sutter Buttes on Sept. 20, 2016. Hector Amezcua—TNS/Getty Images

One pilot was killed and another injured when a U-2 spy plane crashed in Northern California shortly after takeoff Tuesday morning, according to a U.S. Air Force official.

The pilots ejected shortly after takeoff from Beale Air Force Base and moments before the aircraft crashed into a rural area north of Sacramento, according to the Air Force.

Initially, the Air Force reported the crew members had “safely ejected” and were awaiting recovery.

Almost four hours after the crash, however, air combat command tweeted, “There is no official confirmation of status of U-2 pilots.”

Shortly before 1 p.m., Sgt. Charity Barrett of Beale Air Force Base confirmed one pilot’s death. The extent of injuries suffered by the second pilot was unclear.

“There’s always inherent dangers in an ejection. The technology is fantastic, but it’s not foolproof,” Col. Larry Broadwell, the base commander, said at an afternoon news conference. “I would match the safety and maintenance record of the U-2 with any of the apparatus the Air Force flies.”

The crash occurred about 9 a.m., and the pilots were participating in a training mission, according to the Air Force.
“Everything about the flight today was routine — nothing out of the ordinary as I was told,” Broadwell said.

The single-engine, high-altitude surveillance jet is from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base and was assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron.

Photographs from the scene showed the tail of the aircraft sticking out of a scorched hillside with wreckage scattered around it.

According to the base website, the wing is “responsible for providing ... timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products.” The wing is equipped with U-2 planes as well as RQ-4 and MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft.

The last time a U-2 Dragon Lady crashed in the area was Aug. 7, 1996, in Oroville.

The spy plane crashed into a parking lot outside the offices of the Oroville Mercury-Register, killing the pilot and a woman on the ground.

Capt. Randy Roby, an instructor assigned to Beale Air Force Base, was piloting the plane over the city on a routine mission when it burst into flames, then crashed.

Jerri Vering of Oroville was leaving the newspaper’s office when the plane’s wreckage hit and killed her.

The Beale air base is home to America's fleet of high-altitude spy planes, and its motto is emblazoned on signs: “In God We Trust. All Others We Monitor.”

The U-2 flies to 70,000 feet — higher than any U.S. military aircraft. It’s also among the oldest. The spy plane was first designed during the Eisenhower administration to breach the Iron Curtain and, as engineers said, snap “picture postcards for Ike” of hidden military strongholds in the Soviet Union. There have been 33 updated versions of the jet that still flies today.

The U-2 is perhaps best known for the plane that was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 and the subsequent capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was traded for a Soviet spy nearly two years later, but the embarrassing incident convinced U.S. officials that manned spy planes posed too many risks.

The military now relies more heavily on drones for reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering. The U-2 is set to be retired by 2019.

By Veronica Rocha

Three people displaced by South Burlington fire

(Photo: NICOLE HIGGINS DeSMET/FREE PRESS)

Free Press Staff 8:28 p.m. EDT September 11, 2016

SOUTH BURLINGTON - Three residents of an apartment building on Hinesburg Road have been displaced after a fire, the city's fire marshals office said Sunday.

The South Burlington Fire Marshal's Office said in a news release that they are investigating the cause of the fire, but that several people reported seeing lightning strike nearby earlier Sunday morning. No one was injured in the fire.

An occupant of the apartment building at 300 Hinesburg Road called 911 around 9:16 a.m. and reported smelling smoke and hearing "crackling noises" from her second-floor ceiling, the fire marshal's office said.

Eight on-duty city firefighters were dispatched to the scene. Around the same time, Fire Chief Douglas Brent was entering a 9/11 Memorial "Blue" Mass at St. John Vianni Church several hundred yards away, and he noted smoke coming from the roof of the two-story apartment building.

The chief requested that additional fire apparatus from the Vermont Air National Guard also respond to the scene, the fire marshal's office said. The chief also began going door-to-door to notify apartment building occupants of the fire. The building is operated by Vermont Property Exchange, according to the fire marshal's office.

Firefighters who arrived on scene continued the evacuation of the property, while other firefighters began investigating the source of the smoke.

The marshal's office said that crews entered the common attic and found moderate smoke conditions and discovered a small fire along the common apartment wall between apartments 11 and 12. Firefighters contained the fire to the attic and interior parts of those two apartments.

Damage is estimated at $15,000 in structural damage and less than $2,000 for personal items within the units. Two of the three displaced residents will be staying with local relatives, and the other person will be staying at a local hotel as arranged by the property management group, the fire marshal's office said. Residents of the 14 other units were allowed back into their apartments after the fire and subsequent building evaluation.

Williston Fire Department and University of Vermont Rescue provided station coverage during the fire, and the American Red Cross provided support services to the firefighters and evacuees.

Misawa reflects during POW/MIA, 9/11 remembrance ceremony.

U.S. Air Force Col. R. Scott Jobe, left, 35th Fighter Wing commander, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Maj. Gen. Koji Imaki, right, 3rd Air Wing commander, lay a wreath during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. The wreath was placed in honor of the 2,977 people from 91 countries who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

By Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase, 

35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published September 12, 2016

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- U.S. Air Force Col. R. Scott Jobe, left, 35th Fighter Wing commander, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force Maj. Gen. Koji Imaki, right, 3rd Air Wing commander, lay a wreath during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. The wreath was placed in honor of the 2,977 people from 91 countries who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

Airmen with the 35th Fighter Wing stand with a wreath and the “last alarm” during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. “It’s customary the ‘last alarm’ be sounded for our brothers and sisters who have paid the supreme sacrifice,” said Tech. Sgt. Ricardo Malan, 35th Civil Engineer Squadron assistant fire chief of operations. “For having selflessly given their lives for the good of their fellow man, their tasks completed, their duties well done, to signify they’re returning to quarters.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ricardo Malan, 35th Civil Engineer Squadron assistant fire chief of operations, gives a speech during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. “Fifteen years ago, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., terrorists started a series of coordinated suicide attacks against the United States,” Malan said. “Today, we remember those lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and honor the selfless acts of courage of the 343 firefighters, 65 law enforcement officers and 15 emergency medical technicians who gave their lives that fateful day.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)

Airmen with the 35th Fighter Wing stand at parade rest in formation during the 2016 POW/MIA and 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Sept. 9, 2016. Approximately 100 Airmen participated in the event, which highlighted the bravery of the men and women who gave their lives during 9/11, as well as the POW/MIA Airmen of the 35th FW. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brittany A. Chase)