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LATEST NEWS !
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DART Full Scale Exercise 4/04/09
DART Full Scale Exercise 4/19/08
Deployed to Macon County, TN 2/6/08
Purchase of Agriculture Response Trailers 12/07
HC-DART Members Participated in Hands-On Training 06/07
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DART Full Scale Exercise 4/04/09
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To continually test and exercise our DART, an annual drill is held. This year's drill incorporated multiple counties participating as well as being held in Bradley County. DART members were contacted Saturday morning and asked to report to the Tri-State Expo Center in Bradley County for a readiness drill.
After DART members and the response equipment arrived at the exercise staging area, the DART Leader briefed the strike teams on the scenario. This scenario was an F-4 tornado coming through the southeast portion of Bradley County, being made further difficult by brush fires resulting from downed powerlines.
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| In addition to DART members from 5 different counties (Hamilton, Bledsoe, Marion, Sequatchie, Bradley), officials from Emergency Management Agencies from Homeland Security District III, USDA-APHIS, UT Extension, and Bradley County Auxiliary Communications Services all came together to participate in this year's drill. During the drill, there was a temporary shelter set-up at the Expo Center and strike teams for livestock and companion animals were sent out into the area that was affected by the mock tornado. After the drill was called to a close, the group got back together and talked about what went well and what needed improvement. |
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Evacuee Signing Her Dogs into Shelter
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Hurricane Gustav Evacuees
08/31/08 - 09/04/08 |
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Individuals were evacuated from Louisiana prior to Hurricane Gustav making landfall. People were flown out to various reception locations, including Tennessee. Chattanooga received animals that were evacuated with their owners as well as animals from self-evacuees.
HC-DART set up a temporary shelter behind one of the two shelter locations that was opened for evacuees. There were a total of 29 animals that were housed in the temporary shelter for the duration of the evacuation. HC-DART members manned the shelter 24 hours a day, working in 12 hour shifts. There were scheduled veterinarian checks done twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon to monitor the health of each animal.
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Temporary Animal Shelter Set-Up
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HC-DART Members with Shelter Animals
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| Owners of the animals were encouraged to come and take care of and visit their pets during the day. It was very heart-warming to see the animals reactions whenever they saw their family coming to visit them. All the animals settled in within a day of being placed into HC-DART's care. |
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Some of the 'Guests' During the Gustav Evacuation
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HC-DART Full Scale Exercise
4/19/2008
The HC-DART had a drill on Saturday, April 19th to test our readiness to respond during an emergency. DART members were contacted early in the morning and were asked to meet at Sale Creek High School. Participating DART members convened there and were briefed by both the HC-DART Leader, Ray Burden, and Chief of Field Services for Hamilton County, Tony Reavley. The initial scenario presented involved extensive flooding of farming areas with homes containing animals. There were evaluators critiquing the whole process, from the recovery teams to the sheltering procedure. When the exercise was wrapped up, a discussion took place among participants about what went well and suggestions for improvement. |
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Agricultural Emergency Response Trailer
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Goats Being Moved from Unsafe Area During Drill
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Processing Information at the Shelter for Animal Intake
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Anxiously Awaiting His Person to Take Him Home
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HC-DART Deployed to Macon County, Tennessee 2/9/2008
Click Here to see the Situation Report
Members of HC-DART were deployed to Macon County, TN following the devastating tornadoes that tore through Tennessee the first week of February. HC-DART assisted in corralling livestock and locating companion animals displaced by the tornadoes. |
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Devastation Left by Tornadoes
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Assembly of Crates for Small Animals |
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Setting up Fencing to Corral Loose Cattle |
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Temporarily Corralled Donkeys |
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Hamilton County Commission Okays Purchasing of Agricultural Emergency Response Trailers - December 2007
There were 2 trailers purchased with Homeland Security monies for emergency animal services/care in the event of a disaster. These trailers will be utilized during an emergency in which the activation of Hamilton County DART occurs.
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