Governor Bob McDonnell Commends State Employees and Agencies For Response to Historic Winter Storms

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

February 19, 2010

Contact: Stacey Johnson
Phone: (804) 225-4260
E-mail: Stacey.Johnson@Governor.Virginia.Gov

RICHMOND- Governor Bob McDonnell today recognized the hard work of many of Virginia's state employees and agencies in responding to the historic winter storms that impacted the Commonwealth over the past month.

Speaking about the efforts, Governor McDonnell remarked, "The snowstorms that struck the Commonwealth over the past month were unprecedented in many regions. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the public servants who worked so tirelessly to get us through these events. While snow removal and storm recovery is still underway, the worst has passed. Today, I want to commend every person who helped to protect and prepare the Commonwealth- from the staff supervisors of the Culpeper State Police division who brought sleeping bags to their offices so they didn't get snowed in at home, to workers at area restaurants who provided food and support to the Virginia Emergency Operations Center during the long hours of long days that all seemed to run together after awhile! Countless men and women went above and beyond to serve Virginia's citizens, communities and neighbors, putting others before themselves to help in a time of need. While we still have a few weeks of winter left, and other storms could certainly still arrive, it is important that we pause for a moment and say thank you to all those who have worked so diligently to help their fellow citizens."

Below are anecdotes and information provided by state agencies on recovery efforts over the last couple weeks.

Virginia State Police Respond to More Than 25,000 Calls for Service

In the three storms of 2010, Virginia State Police statewide have responded to 25,861 calls for service and information, to include 6,310 traffic crashes and 5,777 disabled vehicles.

January 29th - 30th Storm Total Calls received by Dispatch 8,383
Total Crashes 2,170
Total Disabled Vehicles 2,035

February 5th - 8th Storm Total Calls received by Dispatch 10,307
Total Crashes 1,958
Total Disabled Vehicles 2,378

February 9th - 11th Storm Total Calls received by Dispatch 7,171
Total Crashes 2,182
Total Disabled Vehicles 1,364

The December 18-20, 2009 storm yielded more than 16,000 calls for service statewide.

Virginia State Police Fairfax Division Dispatchers Dedicated to Mission
Dispatcher Wanda Beard worked seven straight midnight shifts without being able to return home to her two young children. Instead, she stayed in a hotel so she could report to work each night as a dispatcher for the VSP Fairfax Division. She lives in Rappahannock County and knew she could not commute to-and-from work because of the impassable roads. She chose to stay in a hotel away from her family, so she would be on the dispatch console ready to help support the troopers in the field.

Prince William County Neighbors Come to Troopers' Aid
As two of the Virginia State Police's newest troopers prepared to leave for work in the midst of the February 5-8, 2010 snowstorm, they found out just how kind their Prince William County neighbors could be. As the troopers began digging out their patrol cars, several of their neighbors emerged from their homes to brave the cold and help the troopers get on the road. They came armed with shovels and scrapers to help the troopers find and dig out their buried patrol cars. The two troopers had just graduated on January 8, 2010 as members of the 115th Basic Trooper Session.

Virginia National Guard Responds, Protects and Serves During Recent Snowstorms

Virginia Guardsmen, Luray Fire Department Team Up for Rescue Effort
Sgt. Derek Braswell and Spc. Sean Wheeler from the Woodstock-based Company A, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Brigade Combat Team and volunteer firefighters from Company 1, Luray Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched Feb. 6 to aid a family of two adults and two toddlers, ages 2 and 3, in Rileyville stranded in their home without power. As they got closer to the family's home, the Soldiers and firefighters realized their military Humvee could not make it through the snow that was two to three feet high and decided to proceed to the house on foot. After the long hike to reach the family, the two children were placed in the Soldiers' military backpacks for transport back down the mountain to safety.

Soldiers Assist Fairfax County Firefighters as they Battle Apartment Blaze
Sgt. Teo Ortiz, Pfc. Demetrius Ragland and Pfc. William Martin from the Norfolk-based Battery B and Sgt. Melvin Terry and Spc. Brandon Green of the Hampton-based Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery, 116th Brigade Combat Team exercised their own initiative to assist Fairfax County firefighters as they battled an apartment blaze on Feb. 8. The Soldiers had completed their dinner meal, heard the sirens and proceeded to the fire scene to offer their assistance. They assisted with the evacuation of a wounded firefighter, carried equipment and dug through the snow to find the fire hydrant used to put out the fire. The Soldiers also assisted with applying salt on the road and at an intersection near the scene and helped drain and roll up 500 feet of hose after the fire was put out.

Soldiers Dig Out Fire Hydrants and Assist Cars Stuck in the Snow in Alexandria
Staff Sgt. Marsha Cox, Sgt. Roger Miller, Sgt. Damion Alexander, Spc. Jordan Amulong, Spc. Brian Esplin, and Spc. Tony McMullen from the Norfolk-based Company G, 429th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team were assigned to recovery operations at the Alexandria Emergency Operations Center from Feb. 9 to 11. During that time they dug out more than 30 fire hydrants using a provided strip map, hand pushed civilian automobiles stuck in the snow, gave an elderly man a ride after he had walked 10 blocks in the snow, transported 25 cots to a Red Cross facility for men, women and children seeking shelter because of the storm, and shoveled snow off the roof of several fire houses to prevent a roof collapse, which had already occurred at three similar structures.

Soldiers Assist With Clearing Fallen Traffic Light from Intersection
Sgt. Roger Miller and Spc. Brian Esplin from the Norfolk-based Company G, 429th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team were returning from a mission and exercised their own initiative to assist public works personnel remove a fallen traffic light Feb. 10 at the intersection of Duke Street and South Payton in Alexandria. The two Soldiers offered the use of the crane on their wrecker to lift the light so it could be cut into smaller pieces to clear the intersection.

VDOT Workers Receive Accolades for a Job Well Done

Additional Equipment Sent to Northern Virginia:
-Approximately 200 pieces of equipment (100 VDOT, 100 hired pieces of equipment)
-Approximately 200 extra vehicle personnel
-Approximately 200 hired equipment personnel so equipment could run 24/7

People from all around the Commonwealth wrote in to VDOT to say "thank you" for their hard work during the storms.

Autumn, Northern Virginia
Just wanted to send a quick thank you to the entire VDOT crew.

My friend's labor has started, water has broken, and needed to get to a hospital to get checked out. There is 2 feet of snow on the roads here in the Stafford suburbs. My friend's car didn't have a chance to get out of their cul-de-sac, much less up a snow & ice packed hill to get to the roads that had been cleared. She called VDOT and spoke with Alexandra, Fairfax Co.s Traffic Ops Sup. At 02:45.

By 03:15, 3 tractors and a truck had cleared the way to get to a hospital. The 30-min response was simply amazing! Mom will try and send a photo when her little girl comes. She is extremely grateful she didn't have to try and walk through the snow, up a snow-packed hill to get to an ambulance! So THANK YOU to everyone who works so hard, at all hours, to get people where they need to be.

Kathy, Albemarle
Snow plow operator did a great job in our neighborhood this past weekend! I can call my "retired snow plow driver" father, in Upstate NY, and tell him what a great job they do in VA also!

DANIEL, Newport News
VDot is doing a great job on keeping the bridges and tunnels clear! i drove to work(Norfolk) and back home(Newport News) with no problem! Thank You VDot!!!

Bruce & Cathy, Manassas
I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work the VDOT crews have done during the resent snow events. Over the past fifty years I have never experienced such quick, efficient, and considerate service. There is one worker that is especially deserving of positive recognition. I don't know who he is but the guy does an absolutely fantastic job. With the gigantic equipment he surgically moved the snow around cars, mailboxes, and posts.

Living on the end of a cul-de-sac we are usually plowed in and have to dig ourselves out, paying the price for the rest of the street. This maestro of machines leaves driveways and mailboxes clear and snow evenly distributed. All of this being done in minutes, and without anyone paying attention, a testament to his work ethic.

Please convey our sincere appreciation for the outstanding job to the crews and the hero of Nyack Court.

John, Alexandria
I'm a 9-year resident of the New Alexandria community and 25-year resident of the area who spent my formative years in snowy New York State and I must say that the County and State workers who have been working nonstop in response to two unprecedented snowstorms have done a tremendous job. They should know that many other homeowners feel the same way. Our little community has regularly seen snow plows and even had a front end loader come thru this morning to break up the remaining stubborn ice on the roads. We are down to bare pavement.

Moreover, we regularly hear or see the men and women from the Penn Daw/411 Fire & EMS and the Mt. Vernon District Police station racing to one emergency after another. Everyone is working overtime to protect the public under very trying conditions and doing an outstanding job.

Please convey our sincerest gratitude to the commanders and staff of these and all the other county and state departments who have responded to the snowstorms, and let them know that many of us who grew up with these kind of major snow storms appreciate their hard work and the risks they willingly take in the line of duty.

David and Margot, Fairfax
I do not know who to write and your email address was easily found. Today, Friday, February 12, we have received the most outstanding help from two VDOT employees. Although our street is heavily travelled there seems to be a perpetual disagreement over jurisdiction and therefore no one plows it. This afternoon I found two VDOT trucks in our neighborhood and stated our difficulty and the large number of drivers continuing to get stuck on the street. Both men immediately started working hard on our street and seemed to take extraordinary caution to plow in such a way that the entrance to most driveways received just a minimal amount of plowed snow. Both men were cheerful, quick to help when yet another car got stuck and worked tirelessly. One of the men stated that it was very hard to remove snow that had compacted for a full week but nonetheless they did not give up and we now have pavement showing.

Virginia Emergency Response Team Goes Above and Beyond

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management benefited greatly from the long hours and hard work of the following individuals.

Jason Eaton, Logistics Chief
Jason managed the overall logistics response(s) to the storms and coordinated with DGS, other state agencies, private contractors, and localities to ensure the fastest, most appropriate goods and services were supplied to the requestor. In his "spare" time, he also coordinated interaction and information sharing with Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) partners and with Statewide Mutual Aid (SMA) localities, generated several EMAC messages and SMA requests for assistance. While all this is "expected" behavior, Jason went well beyond the norm in ensuring all was well and that "his" people were taken care of.

Michael Gray, Plans Chief
Mike Gray is the actor behind most of the paperwork (electronic and otherwise) generated in these events. He managed the planning function for the VERT and production of countless Situation Reports, Spot Reports, VA Briefing Reports, Weather updates, Talking Points, Coordination Action Plans, and shift briefings. Mike and his team (day and night) collected and sorted through localities' reports (situation reports and damage assessment reports) and WebEOC entries to ensure nothing got lost and the important items were immediately brought to someone's attention. In his "spare" time, he also managed the production of Situation Reports from the Joint Field Office and supplied accurate up-to-date information for the Secretary of Public Safety and Office of the Governor.

Vic Buisset, Operations Section Chief (Day)
The OPS Chief is responsible for most of the interaction with state agency representatives to the VERT, because it is state agencies that staff the various Emergency Support Functions, which report to the OPS Section Chief. Vic developed and coordinated appropriate staffing plans and ran the operation day after day, week after week. As always, during these types of events, various issues develop which require a calm, reasoned and firm decision-maker to "referee" a successful outcome. Vic has become masterful at dealing with folks during stressful situations and leading towards excellence on the part of his staff. Because he is so quiet about it, this virtue usually goes unnoticed by the overall staff. Without Vic's operational experience, cool head, and loyalty to VDEM and VERT operations, the overall success of the team would be considerably lessened. In his "spare" time, Vic made certain the vital components of the VEOC were maintained and functional (vehicles, communications systems, and staff members).

Lori Eyester, Operations Section Chief (Night)
The night shift OPS Chief has the same responsibilities as the daytime Chief, but usually has time to perform "sanity checks" on processes and documentation. Because of Lori's thoroughness and initiative, several processes were changed to improve effectiveness of request handling and tracking. Also, after determining there was a problem with the response by a private company to a local incident involving a safety issue, Lori convened a conference call with the company, several state response agencies, and the VEOC. Lori was able to "forcefully convince" the company that since the company had been advised multiple times by the state that the issue had to be resolved by the company and it was now a public safety hazard, that no further delays would be tolerated and they would fix the problem. Problem solved - immediately. While this is "expected" behavior, Lori is a new Section Chief and new to the VERT. Her decisiveness prevented a problem from becoming a real hazard.

Debbie Messmer, Conference Call Moderator
There have been between 70 and 80 conference calls and WebEx presentations conducted between Christmas 2009 and February 11, 2010. Debbie has conducted many of them and has become "the voice" of our conference calls. Debbie made the many "behind the scene" adjustments, working with the VEOC Communications Center Supervisor, Conference Call operators, Weather Service presenters, and VERT command staff speakers to ensure the end result was a working conference call and WebEx for the attendees participating. The ability to maintain a cheerful demeanor and clearly enunciate what needed to happen, made for an effective and informative series of calls.

Tanya Brown, VDEM/VEOC Communications Supervisor
Tanya and her crew in the VEOC Watch Center ensured the daily flow of critical (and normal) information and intelligence was transmitted as required. Watches, Warnings, Advisories, SWAN Alerts, VCIN messages, and the usual communication of emails and phone calls continued without interruption. Behind the scenes (even further than Debbie Messmer) on conference calls and WebEx's, Tanya reserved the lines and made the logistical connections basic to successful calls. During the calls, Tanya controlled who had the presentation permissions and moved it back and forth in a transparent manner to the participants. Without her "invisible" actions, the calls would not have been possible.

Virginia State Police Helpers
Others were part of the building and grounds crew that kept the parking lot and walkways clear at the VSP Headquarters and the VEOC: Chris Maiden, M. M. Whitehead Jr., Keith Morris, C. J. Morris, Henry Carroll, Chip Urban, Michael Antonellini, Terry Ludlam, Jerry Short

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