Hurricane Nicole: 140 Soldiers Ready To Assist
[Updated] As of 2pm today [Oct 12], the Royal Bermuda Regiment has been embodied, with soldiers on standby for Hurricane Nicole ready to clear main roads for emergency vehicles, assist with emergency situations as required and respond to other tasks as directed by the EMO.
There is a partial embodiment of 140 soldiers, which comprise five Immediate Response Teams [IRT’s] of 20 soldiers, each including chainsaw operators, signallers and medics, with four IRT’s located in Warwick Camp and one at the Clearwater Fire Station the east end.
The Regiment said, “As of 2pm today, the Regiment has been embodied to return Bermuda to a state of normality via the following means: Clearance of the main roads for emergency vehicles, assist with emergency situations as required and respond to other tasks as directed by the EMO.
“This is a partial embodiment of 140 soldiers out of the Regiment’s 420 and depending on the damage caused more soldiers may be embodied.
“The 140 soldiers comprise five Immediate Response Teams [IRT’s] of 20 soldiers, each including chainsaw operators, signallers and medics.
“During the storm, four IRT’s will be located in Warwick Camp and one will be located at the Clearwater Fire Station. The IRT’s will deploy at the first opportunity after the storm.
“The remaining 40 soldiers are enablers and include the command element and the Quartermaster’s department who sustain the IRT’s [feeding and providing other material support].”
Update 7.13pm: The Regiment added that East End soldiers are also bolstered with a team from the RBR’s Boat Troop, who will evacuate any possible casualties to Grotto Bay for ambulance pick-up if the Causeway is impassable.
RBR Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel David Curley said: “Our soldiers are very keen, energetic and eager to get the country back to normal as soon as possible.
“Soldiers at Warwick Camp will be deployed after a detailed reconnaissance and risk assessments have been done. They will be tasked to go west and east of Warwick Camp to initially start clearing roads.
“This is one of our main tasks – it’s something we do really well and we’re fully certified and well-rehearsed to deal with the aftermath of a hurricane.
“We unblock roads to ensure that emergency service vehicles can move freely. If we didn’t go out there right away when it is deemed safe, it would take a lot longer to clear these roads and there might be severe casualties that need immediate treatment at the hospital.
“Our other main task is to support the Bermuda Police Service with reassurance patrols and our Operational Support Unit is tasked for this role.”
Col Curley added: “It’s a Category 2 storm – a strong Category 2 and it’s slow-moving. We won’t know what we’ll find when we deploy out of the gates of Warwick Camp.
“But we are trained in all aspects of this kind of work and very experienced. We did very well with Fay and Gonzalo two years ago.”
He added that soldiers based in the East End will also check the airport runway to ensure it is clear of potentially dangerous debris to allow flights in and out to resume as soon as possible.
And he added: “We are Bermuda’s insurance policy – and we intend to live up to our promise to protect and serve our community.”
For our ongoing live updates on Hurricane Nicole click here, and for all coverage of Nicole click here.
well done to the selfless sacrifice that our RBR delivers………they are a bunch of B.A.D.-a** technicians who are good at their craft and can Marshall all that is out of hand and assis with returning Bda to normal they are some hard(t)men and women and our world Famous
Thank you regiment for putting yourself on the line for our people. And thank you to your family and friends for sparing you. This is what you are trained for and you are appreciated. Real heroes.