USA — Wyoming Guard Called Up For Fremont County Flooding

CHEYENNE, Wyoming, June 9, 2010 — In the largest state acti­va­tion of the Wyoming Nation­al Guard in more than 10 years, more than 200 sol­diers and air­men are work­ing around the clock to pro­tect res­i­dents and their prop­er­ty against floods in Fre­mont Coun­ty.

The Wyoming Nation­al Guard has been fill­ing and plac­ing sand­bags in the coun­ty since June 7. Fre­mont Coun­ty request­ed the Guard’s assis­tance through the Wyoming Office of Home­land Security. 

Gov. Dave Freuden­thal has signed three autho­riza­tions to increase the num­ber of sol­diers and air­men since June 7. The orig­i­nal autho­riza­tion was for 40 Nation­al Guard troops. The most recent autho­riza­tion, signed today, brings the total to 223 Army and Air Guard per­son­nel in Fre­mont Coun­ty by this evening. 

“The Wyoming Nation­al Guard is proud of its dual state and fed­er­al mis­sion and our sol­diers and air­men are ready and able to assist Wyoming res­i­dents when the call comes,” said Maj. Gen. Ed Wright, Wyoming’s adju­tant general. 

“The call came Mon­day,” Wright said, “and we are dili­gent­ly work­ing to ensure Fre­mont Coun­ty res­i­dents remain safe. We also are mon­i­tor­ing oth­er areas of the state and are pre­pared to assist oth­er Wyoming res­i­dents, if needed.” 

Hav­ing the state’s Nation­al Guards­men on the job “allows us to let our vol­un­teers go back to focus­ing on pro­tect­ing their own homes and fam­i­lies, instead of wor­ry­ing about the big­ger pic­ture,” said Craig Haslam, inci­dent com­man­der for the Fre­mont Coun­ty Flood 2010. “We have been noth­ing short of impressed with their work eth­ic, atti­tude, and respect for the sit­u­a­tion and for the oth­er volunteers.” 

Source:
Wyoming Nation­al Guard
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)