JBSA-Seguin ISB supports Hurricane Harvey disaster relief efforts

  • Published
  • By Kimberly Parker
  • 502nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFNS)--In support of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, the 502nd Air Base Wing, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency stood-up an Incident Support Base at Joint Base San Antonio-Seguin Auxiliary Airfield Aug. 24, 2017.

“The mission of the ISB is to stage supplies such as meals, water, generators and other equipment as close as possible to the affected area without hindering disaster relief operations,” said Col. Dave Edwards, a 1st Air Force emergency preparedness liaison officer. 

Edwards explained the JBSA-Seguin Auxiliary Airfield location can stage approximately 700 trailer trucks at a time. Currently, there are about 250 trucks processing through the location each day. To date, approximately 2.1 million meals and 2.2 million liters of water have processed through the ISB to disaster relief areas.

“This is the most massive homeland support operation I have ever been involved with and we are working to move as many supplies as we can as quickly as possible, because time is of the essence,” Edwards said.

Edwards and Lt. Col. Vince Schons are the two liaison officers assigned to the incident support base and coordinate with JBSA, other federal agencies as well as state and local agencies to ensure FEMA and DLA have all the resources they need to accomplish their missions.

“What we really want is to get the aid to the people that need it as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Schons said. “Nobody wants bad things to happen, but we are trained and ready to respond when they do and we want to help.

Both Edwards and Schons are Air Force reservists and expressed their willingness and readiness to serve during this time of need.  

“To the people of Houston and all the affected areas, my thoughts and prayers are with you,” Edwards said. “Joint Base San Antonio stands ready to support in anyway necessary to help, and will provide every resource we can to alleviate the suffering and put things back together for you.”

Schons echoed the sentiment of readiness.

“The effort and the can-do attitude from the entire community is a wonderful thing to see and be a part of,” Schons said. “It fills me with pride to see the American people coming together and the outpouring of support during this time of crisis.”