Incident Management Team Mobilizations for Katrina

I’ve had an interest in the Incident Command System since learning about the large catering contractors at large wildland fires. Large catering companies, such as Z-Best Mobile Catering, OK’s Cascade Company and Nuway, contract with the federal government to provide mobile catering service for fires and disasters. Information on the federal mobile food service contracts can be found here.

The following National Interagency Incident Management Teams (all are Type I teams unless noted) were mobilized on in response to Hurricane Katrina:

• Southern Area Incident Management Team, Blue Team (Incident Commander Mike Quesinberry) -- mobilized August 28 to a logistics staging area in Meridian, Mississippi with FEMA.

• Southern Area Incident Management Team, Red Team (George Custer) -- mobilized August 28 to establish a base camp in Port Allen, Louisiana with FEMA.

• California Interagency Incident Management Team 3 (Jeanne Pincha-Tulley) -- mobilized August 28 to manage a base camp at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi with FEMA.

• California Interagency Incident Management Team 4 (Aaron Gelobter) -- mobilized August 30 to Mississippi with FEMA.

• California Interagency Incident Management Team 5 (Tom Cable) -- mobilized August 31 to the Katrina Base Camp in with FEMA.

• New Mexico Incident Management Team (Type II) (Bob Lineback) – mobilized to provide mobilization center support at Pineville, Louisiana.

The National Incident Management Situation report can be found here. It’s updated daily and contains wildland fires and other natural disasters, like hurricanes. These reports usually give a synopsis of Incident Management teams mobilized to manage the incident, recourses ordered (personnel and equipment) to the incident and containment (for fires).

As these teams get established, they should start posting incident information like photographs, news releases and information bulletins on their respective websites. You may even get a glimpse or two of the catering trucks.