Loss of Air Guard planes would cripple emergency response

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 | 4:35 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The loss of eight, Nevada Air National Guard C-130 cargo planes under a proposed military restructuring runs contrary to mandates by the federal government to plan for terrorism and disasters, local and state emergency managers said.

"The disconnect is not lost on us," said Col. Jon Proehl, commander of the 152nd Airlift Wing based at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Marty Scheuerman, Reno's fire marshal and emergency services manager, said the military is a close partner is disaster planning.

"We've trained with them. We're built into their plans, they're built into our plans," he said.

The Pentagon has proposed moving the eight planes based in Reno to Little Rock, Ark., as part of a national military restructuring.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission is scheduled to begin hearings on the recommendations Aug. 24, before making its own recommendations to President Bush on Sept. 8.

Proehl said the Air National Guard in the Channel Islands near Los Angeles would be the only full squadron of C-130s west of the Rockies if the planes are moved out of Reno.

Since California has not signed a compact to provide assistance to other states when requested, it's questionable whether timely help would be available during an emergency, he said.

BRAC Chairman Anthony Principi visited the Nevada Guard base in Reno last month, and Proehl flew with him to Hawthorne, where the Army Ammunition Depot has been tapped for closure.

"I was able to show him the vastness of the region and the Martis fire location, which is still pretty dramatic," Proehl told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

In another visit in July, Proehl took Commissioner Philip Coyle on a flight over a fire in the Sierra where the plane's unique Scathe View surveillance equipment was used.

The Reno-based planes are the only ones in the world hard-wired to carry Scathe View equipment used to support firefighters and soldiers on the ground, survey earthquake damage or help with rescue missions, Air Guard officials said.

"We have developed an infrared system that can look through the smoke of a fire to help develop an attack plan that can be instituted at first light," Proehl said. "We can map the fire at night by looking through the smoke."

The planes assisted firefighters in Southern California two years ago when massive fires destroyed 3,650 homes.

The eight cargo planes are not the biggest, with capacity for only 90 soldiers or three Humvees, but they are versatile. In Nevada, they can land on the smallest dirt air strips.

The planes also would be invaluable in any major doomsday scenario, being able to deliver medications and other supplies in a fraction of the time it would take to transport them by trucks, officials said.

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com