Coast Guard hazmat team joins tsunami relief effort

UTAPAO, Thailand — A specialized Coast Guard team arrived to South Asia with the wave of U.S. forces this month to offer a different type of life-saving aid to Operation Unified Assistance.

“We’re here to help with the potential of hazardous materials in affected areas,” said Cmdr. Anthony Lloyd, commander of the Pacific Strike Team, part of the Coast Guard’s national hazardous material and oil spill response group called the National Strike Force.

The team can react to oil spills, ruptured fuel lines, fertilizer and pesticides, household and industrial chemicals, biological and radiological agents or even weapons of mass destruction.

Other services often are surprised to see them participating with the relief mission.

“People wonder why we’re not on a boat and what it is we do out here,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Bryan Nystrom, a marine science technician for the Coast Guard and a response technician on the team.

In the United States, the National Strike Force serves as the U.S. government’s hazmat team, coming in to partner with local fire departments, the National Guard or the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a crisis.

Members of the force make assessments and recommendations for managing and cleaning up a spill and help with the effort.

Internationally, they assist local governments.

Members of the national team are working in South Carolina in the aftermath of a train derailment that spilled chlorine, causing nine deaths and the evacuation of thousands from their homes. The team was on scene after hurricanes struck Florida last fall, and it responded to the ricin and anthrax attacks in Washington in late 2001.

South Asia is one of the rare times they’ve worked in a large-scale joint operation with other services.

“It’s unusual to be part of a joint group,” Lloyd said. “Joint operations are typically warfighting operations.”

The group has not been called to any of the affected areas, but “as you get into infrastructural [reconstruction] there’s a potential for us to be involved,” Lloyd said. “That’s really what we bring to the table. A set of eyes and ears” to seek out hidden dangers possibly buried under debris.

Like most of the forces on the ground, the team had very little time to prepare for the deployment.

“We didn’t know what we’d be doing when we got the call,” Nystrom said. He arrived to the Pacific team from his base in Fort Dix, N.J., with the Atlantic team. The group in Asia also has members from the Gulf team out of Mobile, Ala.

The group of 11 deployed to Asia brought with them essential detection tools, including a multigas meter to detect dangerous gases and a radiation detector.

They also have a “HazCat kit,” a low-tech box of chemicals and a flow chart that can indicate the classification or even identity of unknown liquids or chemicals.

“We didn’t know what kind of environment we’d be in, so we brought things that didn’t use electricity,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Garcia, a damage controlman and a response supervisor on the team.

Two teams of five, plus Lloyd, are prepared to deal with any type of spill, cracked fuel lines, suspicious cylinders of chemicals, damaged ships leaking oil or household and industrial chemical spills.

The members come from jobs across the Coast Guard. They are selected to attend specialized training that prepares them to be both scientists and crisis managers.

In many crises, they serve as site managers leading other groups with assessments and recommendations. That gives the members, even mid-ranking ones, a high level of responsibility.

“When you’re on a response it’s more about your qualification than your rank,” Nystrom said.

The group’s skills mean the team is always in demand. They’re deployed an average of 175 days a year.

“I think we’re the only service that does oil [spill] and hazardous material” response, Garcia said.

The Strike Team members aren’t the only Coast Guard personnel working in the region. Two Coast Guard C-130s, used to carry the Strike Team in, now are delivering aid to Sri Lanka.

Off the coast of Indonesia, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro is working with the USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group 5.

The Coast Guard’s presence in the mission demonstrates the new role the Coast Guard is performing as a part of the military’s global operations.

“It’s another resource that hopefully they’re learning they have as an option,” Garcia said. “Most of the Coast Guard doesn’t even know about the Strike Team.”

The participants hope their skills can be of service in the region, Garcia added.

“You definitely get job satisfaction doing a job like this,” he said.