 |
| Staff
Sgt. Jason Moore uses a pressure washer to hose
off an HH-60G Pave Hawk after a search and rescue
mission. Ground crews here wash the outside of helicopters
with hot water and the inside with a mild bleach
solution to decontaminate them after missions over
"the soup." That is the name used for
Hurricane Katrina floodwaters polluted with fuel
oil, diesel fuel and gasoline, raw sewage, the bodies
of people and animals and hazardous chemicals. Sergeant
Moore is a 347th Expeditionary Rescue Group crew
chief. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Efrain
Gonzalez) |
By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
Air Force Print News
JACKSON, Miss. -- Airmen who continue
to fly search and rescue missions must protect themselves
from a host of biohazards in the floodwaters from where
they pluck survivors.
Contact with the polluted water, now called “the soup,”
can cause rashes, illness and disease, said Col. (Dr.)
Lewis Neace, a reserve flight surgeon with the 347th
Expeditionary Rescue Group here. The polluted water
has caused minor illnesses for a few pararescuemen.
“We’ve had a couple of skin infections and one gastrointestinal
illness -- so far,” he said. One crewman was ill enough
that he could not fly. “But that was more of a precaution.
If he had to go, he would have gone.”
To reduce the risk of contamination, maintenance crews
hose down the outside of helicopter with hot water after
every mission. They also use a mild bleach solution
to disinfect the inside of the aircraft.
The floodwaters brought by Hurricane Katrina have turned
into a nasty brew, polluted with “any number of unknown
substances,” the doctor said. The water is full of fuel
oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, raw sewage, the bodies of
hurricane victims, dead animals “and an untold number
of spilled hazardous chemicals,” he said.
“I don’t think you can tell for sure what’s in there
without a proper, scientific analysis, but it’s certainly
not good for you,” said Neace, commander of the 920th
Aeromedical Staging and Transportation Squadron at Patrick
Air Force Base, Fla.
Neace is the senior medical official for Air Force units
deployed to the Evers Field National Guard Base next
to the Jackson International Airport. He left his job
at the Good Samaritan Hospital emergency room in Portland,
Ore., on Aug. 30 to come here. He flew to Patrick, where
a C-130 Hercules was waiting for him with engines running.
He arrived here late that same night and got right to
work.
“I honestly don’t know how many hours I’ve worked,”
he said.
The doctor has flown on rescue missions that lasted
from eight to 10 hours. The rest of the time, Neace
provides medical oversight for aircrews and flight personnel.
And there are several hundred Airmen here to keep safe.
The base is busy. There are more than two dozen HH-60G
Pave Hawk helicopters of various types on the ramp from
six active duty and reserve bases. They share the ramp
with C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft of the
host 172nd Airlift Wing of the Mississippi Air National
Guard. And day and night, C-130 Hercules and a variety
of other military and civilian aircraft land to deliver
supplies and spare parts.
But the main job here is search and rescue, a task at
which pararescue teams are experts, said Lt. Col. Bob
Thompson, spokesman for the reserve components. He said
their extensive medical training and night vision capabilities
make them crucial to the relief operation.
“There’s nobody better to do this job at this time,”
Thompson said. “They are the best in the world at what
they do.” That is why keeping pararescuemen safe is
paramount, he said.
During a rescue mission, helicopters kick up a lot of
spray as they hover to lower pararescuemen down for
a rescue.
“Some of it you inhale and some of it gets on your clothing,”
Neace said.
Plus, most survivors are wet and some are sick or injured.
Some get sick on the aircraft. After dropping people
at one of the staging areas in the area, helicopters
return to base. Sometimes they are stained with vomit,
urine, feces, even blood, he said. That is when the
cleanup begins.
Thompson said after one mission, a pararescuemen returned
wet and covered with vomit. His fellow troops hosed
him down to ensure he was clean. Then the Airman scrubbed
his gear with a mild bleach solution.
“We’re trying to decontaminate stuff as best we can,”
Neace said.
Needless to say, hosing down and cleaning the helicopter
is not the best job on the flightline. But it is part
of the job for maintenance crews, said Airman 1st Class
Ed Bellus, a crew chief with the 347th Aircraft Maintenance
Squadron from Moody AFB, Ga. He volunteered to deploy
with his unit, and he does not mind cleanup duty.
“We have to keep the people we’re rescuing, as well
as the aircrews and maintainers, safe from disease,”
the Airman said. “The pararescuemen are working in a
biologically unstable environment. We rinse them down
to make sure bacteria don’t go along on the next rescue.”
This is the first deployment for the 21-year-old Mentor,
Ohio, Airman. He and fellow maintainers live in a big
hangar next to the aircraft parking ramp. They sleep
on cots and there is no air conditioning to ward off
the humidity. But he said he is glad to be here.
“It feels great knowing somebody is going to live because
we keep these helicopters flying,” Bellus said.
That is good news for the millions Hurricane Katrina
has affected. When the floodwaters recede, the most
gruesome aspect of the relief operation begins -- finding
the dead. The troops and their helicopters will be here
to help with that mission, too.
