106th Rescue Wing Participates in First ANG Region 2 Emergency Management Training Published Sept. 11, 2014 By Senior Airman Christopher S Muncy 106th Rescue Wing Public Affairs WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NEW YORK -- NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK - Four Emergency Management airmen with the 106th Rescue Wing participated in the first annual Air National Guard Region 2 Emergency Management training at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. They joined over two dozen EM Managers and bioenvironmental technicians representing seven New York Air National Guard Wings for a week of critical skill development and improvement. The event was hosted by the 107th Air Wing, and included multiple subject matter experts from all over the country. Airmen from the 105th, 106th, 107th 109th, 174th and 177th trained together for the entirety of the event. The first several days were dedicated to classroom training, and graduated from basic to more complicated scenarios. By the end of the week, airmen were training under real-world conditions in environments that simulated poisonous air masses, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear events, as well as other catastrophic settings. In addition, the airmen involved simulated responding to and neutralizing a suspected meth lab. A proper response involves coordination amongst multiple teams and systems. Working from an Incident Action Plan, emergency managers must be experienced in setting up inflatable decontamination tents, know how to set up communication systems between various agencies spread out through the United States, and how their equipment works to detect possible contaminants. The event culminated in an "All Chemical Response" exercise with all aspects of the training put into play. Augmentees from the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department provided a live decontamination line for first responders. "Perhaps the most important element of our regional training was the chance to coalesce...and support one another," Regional Chief CMSgt Doug Treut said following the event. "We encountered problems along the way, but that served the greater purpose of adapting an overcoming, an inherent 3E9 (Emergency Manager) trait."