Team Malmstrom assists with determining threat level of suspicious pacakage

MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, MONT. -- A 13-person team from three organizations at Malmstrom were called out to assist officials of the Blackfeet Tribal community with determining the contents of a suspicious package found on the reservation in Browning, Mont., Jan. 24.

"We initially received the call from the command post about 2 p.m.," said Capt. Aaron Weaver, 341st Medical Operations Squadron bioenvironmental flight chief who also acted as the operations section chief for the response. "But it wasn't until 7 p.m. before we departed for Browning."

What transpired in those five hours was a large amount of coordination between agencies capable of responding to this type of situation to determine who was bringing what assets to properly handle the imposing threat.

Seven members of the fire department's hazmat decontamination team and four members each from bioenvironmental flight and the emergency management flight arrived in the northern Montana city about 9:30 p.m. They were met by members of the Fort Harrison Civil Support Team as well as local officials and the on-scene commander from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"Fort Harrison responded with their mobile lab and a chemist but were unable to support the response with anyone else because their certifications had expired," said Master Sgt. David Wheeler, 341st Civil Engineer Squadron readiness flight superintendent. "By law, the closest federal agency with full capabilities is required to support when all other means are exhausted. Malmstrom was that agency."

While Captain Weaver was updated by the incident commander, the remaining team members prepared for action. The decontamination team set up their stations and the site entry team prepared to enter the facility and assess the situation.

"The information they gave us about the incident sounded just like a scenario given to us by the EET [exercise evaluation team] during an exercise," said Senior Airman Zalman Kosofsky, 341st MDOS bioenvironmental engineering flight member and also one of those tasked for the site entry team. "I felt totally confident in my abilities to perform my role on the entry team."

The team spent nearly an hour using their various equipment to test the suspicious package's contents and eliminate each type of hazard it could possibly be, according to Sergeant Wheeler. The next step was to collect enough of the sample material to put through more stringent testing in the CST lab.

"Most training scenarios do not get 'played' all the way out," said Airman 1st Class Michael Addy, a site entry team member who aided in collection and removal of the evidence. "It was helpful to take a scenario from start to finish."

Third team member and the one responsible for opening the suspicious package Senior Airman Kyle Kidwell agreed with his teammate.

"I'm glad we have real calls because it lends legitimacy to my job," he said. "On the other hand, I worry about the people that were possibly infected with deadly materials."

The final task was to get everyone and everything out of the "hot zone."

"Each person and their equipment had to be decontaminated, as did the samples being brought out for testing," Captain Weaver explained. "The process took about 30 minutes and went very smoothly."

Once the site entry team was processed and the samples were delivered to the lab, the "response" portion of the incident was over.

"We responded exactly like we practiced," Airman Kosofsky said. "As an integrated team, communications flowed very efficiently."

Bioenvironmental engineer personnel alongside the CST chemist then conducted extensive tests on the sample.

"Our efforts were able to confirm the suspicious package did not pose a creditable radiological, biological or chemical threat to the Blackfoot Indian community at any time during this response," Captain Weaver said.

The Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Response Team, also known as I-WMDRT, worked cohesively, according to Captain Weaver. "This was the first real-world, off-base response for the I-WMDRT and they displayed excellent team work," he said. "I even received a compliment from Army Capt. Juan Stevens, the nuclear medicine science officer from Fort Harrison. He was very impressed with how well the team worked together - especially the entry team."

"Very often it's easy to get lax, especially here in Montana, so far away from the fight," Airman Kosofsky said. "But this was somewhat of a wake-up call. You never know when the fight is going to come to you. You always need to be prepared."