Pensacola Regional Airport closed its airfield on Wednesday, September 15th, at 3:30 pm due to tropical force winds coming in advance of Hurricane Ivan, a Category III hurricane. The hurricane made landfall in the early morning hours of September 16, 2004 with 130 mph sustained winds. As the hurricane-force winds subsided in the mid-morning hours of September 16th airport personnel inspected the airfield operating environment, made repairs, and by 12:45pm re-opened the airfield for emergency relief aircraft only. Roads and highways leading into Escambia and Santa Rosa counties were impassable due to fallen trees, debris and damaged bridges; in response to this Pensacola Regional Airport was designated as the primary staging area for disaster relief supplies, filling this role for the first 4 days of disaster relief operations.

During these four days a mixture of C-17 and C-130 military aircraft began major relief operations, and 24 various civilian and military helicopters conducted numerous missions from the airport on an around-the-clock basis. With temporary flight rules in place over the airport, Pensacola Regional Airport operations personnel assumed control of the airfield and issued 219 aircraft landing authorizations.

Consumable materials such as unleaded and diesel fuels were a critical component for recovery vehicles and equipment but due to the airport’s limited storage capacity at the fuel farm, the airport quickly became dependent on outside suppliers after exhausting its internal reserves. This put us in direct competition with all the other requesting agencies working through the local emergency operations center.

Competing with these other agencies for a finite supply of fuel was challenging given the continuous need for fuel to support electrical generators for the airfield and buildings, tenant-operated aircraft servicing equipment, and personal vehicles of key personnel such as police officers, operations and maintenance personnel, and air traffic controllers to ensure their ability to get to and from the airport.

Seven airports in the southeast sent 27 airport-trained personnel to provide immediate assistance to Pensacola. The personnel were electricians, HVAC technicians, building maintenance technicians, airfield operations personnel, dispatchers, law enforcement officers and fire fighters. The amount of time these personnel stayed in Pensacola varied, but one team stayed in Pensacola for a full week. Hurricane Ivan disrupted commercial power and water to the airport for a total of 8 days; nearby hotels that were habitable were filled to capacity with displaced Pensacola residents. Immediately following the hurricane, there was an on-going demand to provide a safe and sanitary off-duty environment for the response teams for sleeping, showering and eating.

The airport has an integral role in the recovery of a community, providing the airfield infrastructure to support airlift relief operations. Hurricane Ivan’s toll on Pensacola Regional Airport made it apparent that airports affected by hurricanes would be dependent upon assistance from other airports for personnel, supplies and building materials to recover and begin commercial operations. Community-wide disaster relief efforts made it difficult, if not impossible, to rely upon local assistance. Any local assistance would not be airport-knowledgeable and unable to work independently of local airport personnel.

Initiated by the Savannah/Hilton International Airport, a mutual aid network is being established that recognizes the need for other airports to provide disaster relief to affected airports and thereby minimize the time to resume commercial operations. Pensacola’s experience with Hurricane Ivan also highlighted the need for a single outside point of contact or a clearinghouse for assistance. This clearinghouse coordinates the assistance to the damaged airport and thereby relieves the affected airport personnel from taking numerous calls offering assistance and to assure relief efforts were coordinated and controlled.

Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport accepted the role as the clearinghouse, to receive requests for aid and to disseminate those requests to the airports in the mutual aid network.

Although not fully established when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the Southeast Airports Disaster Alliance Group initiated its relief efforts with Savannah Hilton Head providing the agreed upon clearinghouse services. As the relief efforts evolved Pensacola Regional Airport, as the closest fully operational airport to Gulfport Biloxi, became the logistical hub for the airport response teams going into Mississippi. We provided final briefings for navigating anticipated road detours, topped off fuel tanks, procured and loaded additional supplies, and coordinated housing with local hotels for rotating teams. Similar activities were occurring in Houston for aid to the New Orleans airport.

The first lesson learned with Hurricane Katrina: One airport must serve as the clearinghouse to coordinate mutual aid assistance while a second airport becomes the logistical hub for the response teams.

During the first two weeks following Hurricane Katrina the Airports Disaster Alliance Group has worked through a learning curve as it provides relief assistance to Gulfport Biloxi. Lessons learned:

• The airport clearinghouse needs a direct FEMA point of contact. This point of contact must be identified 72 hours prior to the forecasted landfall and be available immediately after the storm to work with the clearinghouse to provide mission numbers for each airport sending response teams into the affected area. Mission numbers are critical to ensure teams are able to access the affected area through any ground checkpoints that may be present, to ensure aircraft can transit the Temporary Flight Rule (TFR) area established over the airport, and to ensure reimbursement protocols are established for the costs incurred by the responding airports.

During the Gulfport Biloxi relief effort airports were delayed while awaiting the official calls for assistance. The Gulfport Biloxi Airport Director was required to contact his State EOC to request support from a particular airport; his State EOC then called the responding airport’s State EOC to officially initiate the request for assistance. FEMA can and should intervene to make direct requests to the airport clearinghouse, initiating specific relief requests without going through multiple state contacts, and providing the necessary mission numbers at the time of the request.

• Hurricane response equipment and supplies generic to any storm event should be purchased and stored in trucks at a location in the southeast U.S., ready and available to be dispatched immediately after a storm. These trucks should be dispatched and report to the nearest airport identified as the logistical support airport and which shall serve as the base for responding teams. An on-going FEMA presence at this airport would serve as the facilitator for the airport relief efforts. Examples of supplies to be stored in these trucks include emergency generators, water, MRE’s, satellite telephones, and building supplies.

• Temporary housing for the responding teams is needed to provide the safe and sanitary off-duty living environment. Response teams cannot rely on the availability of local housing. Trailers capable of housing 5-7 people with an independent water supply should be stored at the same location as the relief supplies and trucks and be a part of the supplies and equipment sent into the area for airport relief effort

As the Airports Disaster Alliance Group evolves it is clear that we have the technical expertise to provide on-site and immediate relief that will help an airport recover and resume operations; but it is also clear that our efforts require federal support to provide the necessary coordination with State and local relief efforts, and to provide the necessary supplies, equipment and materials necessary to conduct disaster relief operations.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning