Task Force 4 Commander

At the DPC Meeting on June 23, 2011 Jeff Houston, EMS Coordinator for Tippecanoe County Emergency Ambulance Service, was unanimously approved to take the reigns as Commander of Task Force 4. Previously, Jeff served in the role of Deputy Commander under Richard Doyle. As you may know, Jeff led Task Force 4 through our first deployment to the National Level Exercise 2011 at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in May. IDHS District 4 is fortunate to have someone of Jeff's caliber leading this initiative and the outstanding persons serving on the task force.

The Commander position, as with many task force positions, are voluntary. We appreciate TEAS support of Jeff's participation in this endeavor, as we do all employers, affiliated agencies, departments and the elected officials within jurisdictions of our members. Without their support, this resource would not be possible. The task force initiative is meant to foster collaboration, enhance training and encourage teamwork across jurisdictional boundaries, and amongst disciplines, before an incident happens. This resource is an asset to all of the communities in IDHS District 4 and beyond.

We look ahead to the Full Scale Exercise in April of 2012. Full Scale Exercise 2012 (FSE '12) is not a National Level Exercise, yet is taking place to establish our ability to notify, activate, mobilize, deploy and demobilize as a task force. And in between there, all five core elements of the task force get to utilize the training they have attended, the exercises they have participated in and the skill sets they have been practicing up to that point. The exercise entails deployment of all five core elements of the task force. IMAT, Service & Support, Law Enforcement, EMS & Fire Suppression.

Congratulations and thank you to Jeff Houston. We have the utmost confidence in your leadership ability.