City Council: Fort Worth receives suspicious package, base update

council chamber

In light of the recent package bombings in Austin, the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday, March 27 received an update during its work session on the city’s readiness if bombings or suspicious package situations occur here.

As the Austin bombings unfolded, Fort Worth fire, police, and Office of Emergency Management (OEM) officials gleaned lessons from the Austin first responders and reviewed and revised procedures as needed. A report of a suspicious package in Fort Worth would initially result in a unified command involving fire, police and MedStar, and then include federal partners as needed.

“Suspicious packages, we respond to those on a regular basis. We respond to about 10 a month,” said interim Fire Chief Pat Vasquez. “The spikes usually hit double digits when there’s a lot of media coverage. As of yesterday, we responded for this month to about 100. All of them have been false calls.”

Currently, there is one explosive ordinance device team in Fort Worth and nine more in North Texas. Each team consists of multiple bomb technicians.

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The Fort Worth team consists of six bomb technicians and three bomb-detecting dogs. Multiple ongoing incidents would include activation of larger pools of resources coordinated through channels already in place. Requests for regional teams or other state/federal assets would be made as needed.

The Joint Emergency Operations Center in Fort Worth would be activated to maintain situational awareness and support field operations. This would include fulfilling resource requests, recommendations on evacuation or “sheltering in place,” public information and media coordination, and other logistical needs.

The Fort Worth Fire Department’s team provides guidance to both the public and private sectors regarding bomb threats, improvised explosive device (IED) awareness and related topics. OEM has also used the “See Something, Say Something” campaign for several years to urge the public to reporting suspicious situations to authorities.

In the event of a situation similar to the Austin bombings, the city’s Joint Information Center would be able to use this established framework and has drafted information for continued public education. OEM is working with public safety departments to streamline tip information for investigative teams. A dedicated hotline would be established and social media outlets would be monitored to receive tips from the public.

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BASE LAND USE STUDY

The council received a briefing on a joint land use study for communities around Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base from Dan Kessler of the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

The study was entitled Joining Forces: Aligning Community and Military Missions.

The study showed that as of 2015 the base employed almost 48,000 people and brought $6.6 billion to the local economy, the largest single Metroplex employer. It also projected the population in Tarrant County to increase from just under 2 million in 2015 to more than 3.2 million by 2045 and the city’s population to grow from almost 800,000 to over 1.4 million over the same period.

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Those two facets have to work together, and the study made several recommendations to help ensure that continues.

Among the top recommendations is better control of unmanned aircraft systems intrusions, or to continue working toward a regional ordinance to address drone takeoffs and landings.

“We don’t feel like we’re in a very good place with this,” Kessler said. “We still have some work to do with our state Legislature. What we want is local law enforcement, when they see someone operating a drone either unsafely or in an area where they shouldn’t be, to be able to pull up and do something about it.”

Kessler said a drone was recently found on a runway on the base, adding he’s glad it didn’t get sucked up in the engine of the jet.

Other recommendations include:

• Continue coordination of aviation hazards. Kessler noted that, for example, wind turbines not only are hazards vertically, but make military radar inoperable.

• Development of a preview tool so all cities around the base can input ideas and development online for comments and discussion concerning compatibilities with the base.

• Stormwater and drainage improvements to reduce flooding risks on the base.

• Transportation improvements, including State Highway 199, Meandering Way, State Highway 183, and the 183 interchange with Interstate 30.

Kessler said the next steps include endorsement of the study by local governments, seeking grant funding, and continuing implementation of priority transportation and mobility projects.

“It’s not just Fort Worth, it’s the 17 communities surrounding Fort Worth that make a difference here,” District 7 Councilman Dennis Shingleton said. “We all seem to have same mission in mind, keeping the operation and integrity of the joint reserve base intact.”

NAS Fort Worth replaced Carswell Air Force Base, which was in operation in Fort Worth from 1942-1994. Mayor Betsy Price remembers when Carswell closed, and encouraged doing whatever it takes to make sure the current base stays open.

“I lived through the BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure] before and saw what it did to Fort Worth and indeed to the west side of Fort Worth,” she said. “We have to be diligent. We now have a wonderful base and great partner.”

The base retains an Air Force Reserve presence, as well as Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve and Air National Guard flying units. It is located in the cities of Fort Worth, Westworth Village, and White Settlement.