NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. – One hundred New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from across the state participated in Operation Buffalo Falls, a Homeland Response Force (HRF) tabletop exercise held June 4-8 at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
The five-day event simulated a notional large-scale Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) event in Dover, Delaware. The exercise was designed to prepare Guard personnel to coordinate a multi-agency response effort in support of civil authorities following a domestic disaster.
During the scenario, HRF forces arrived after local and state first responders were overwhelmed by the incident, assuming responsibility for tasks such as casualty extraction, fatality recovery and establishing communications at the disaster site.
“Early on we were in our crawl/walk phase, and we want to get to a point where it’s automatic muscle memory,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Sanagustin, a member of the 153rd Troop Command and the acting CBRN officer for the event.
“By the end, everyone knew their role and asked the right questions. It’s only going to get smoother and faster from here,” Sanagustin said.
Throughout the exercise, participants progressed through several operational stages: initial threat assessment, deployment of response elements, establishment of communications networks and execution of simulated life-saving operations.
The tabletop format allowed units to rehearse coordination between Army and Air Guard components, identify gaps and streamline response timelines.
The Homeland Response Force mission was established by the Department of Defense in 2011, building on capabilities developed in the 1990s for CBRN and natural disaster response. Each HRF supports one of 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions and includes 574 Army and Air National Guard personnel trained in critical roles.
These include command and control; search and extraction, including locating and rescuing trapped victims; fatality search and recovery; and Joint Incident Site Communications Capability, or JISCC.
New York is part of FEMA Region II and maintains HRF units in New York and New Jersey.
“Originally there was so much response, people were literally stepping on each other’s toes,” explained 1st Lt. Steven Stevens, the JISCC officer-in-charge for the exercise and a member of the 107th Attack Wing’s Communications Flight.
“This helps create a ready, organized formation and avoids unnecessary and unexpected obstacles,” Stevens said.
Lt. Col. William Snyder, executive officer for the 153rd Troop Command, who served as the officer-in-charge for the exercise, said the event provided valuable insight into future operations.
“The training went extremely well, and the team really started to gel together as we worked through incident challenges over the course of two days,” Snyder said.
A follow-on, full-scale exercise is scheduled for August at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. It will incorporate additional personnel and mission elements, including live-action scenarios and field deployment of equipment.
“The team was actively engaged and did an outstanding job creating products that we will use in our upcoming event in August. I could not be happier with the way everyone came together, and I feel very optimistic for our success with this mission moving forward,” Snyder said.
The National Guard’s HRF mission is designed to integrate seamlessly with local, state and federal emergency response agencies. When fully activated, HRF forces contribute to a broader CBRN response network that includes nearly 20,000 service members nationwide.