RICHMOND, Va. –
Approximately 45 Virginia National Guard Soldiers are staged and ready Feb. 13, 2025, at two VNG facilities in the Southwest Virginia area to provide chain saw teams for clearing debris from roads and heavy-duty tactical vehicles for transport through high water and commodity distribution.
Another team of approximately 20 personnel has been alerted to deploy to Southwest Virginia on Friday to provide additional chain saw teams and tactical vehicles for transportation.
The VNG initially staged approximately 50 personnel in Warrenton, Bowling Green and Rocky Mount for snow response efforts Feb. 10 and those teams are standing down.
Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are also on station in the Southwest Virginia area and available for missions as needed through the weekend. The VNG Black Hawk crews and Chesterfield Fire & Emergency Medical Services rescue technicians form the Virginia Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team to provide rotary wing aviation hoist capabilities and aerial rescue evacuation. Four VNG Soldiers and three Chesterfield techs make up each HART crew. Read more about Va. HART at https://vngpao.info/VaHART.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin recognized Va. HART for their efforts participating in rescue missions in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s effects on Southwest Virginia during his State of the Commonwealth address Jan. 13 in Richmond. Read more about the recognition at
https://vngpao.info/2c744r6p and read more about the the first real-world rescues the team performed at
https://vngpao.info/mr2x45tv.
“Virginia localities have robust response capabilities, but they count on the Virginia National Guard to provide additional resources when needed,” said Brig. Gen. Todd H. Hubbard, VNG Director of the Joint Staff after the Soldiers staged on Feb. 10. “Our Soldiers quickly and safely moved to their staging locations on very short notice so they are ready to assist when the winter weather hits. We continue to get great administrative and logistics support from the Virginia Defense Force, and we also owe a special thanks to our families and employers for everything they do to make sure our personnel can conduct the mission.”
About 20 additional Soldiers and members of the Virginia Defense Force are on duty to provide logistics, maintenance and administrative support for the response teams.
During domestic operations, the VNG responds as part of a multi-agency team with other state and local agencies to provide support capability requests submitted through the Virginia Emergency Support Team by Virginia localities.
Localities looking for VNG support should make their requests to the VEST, and they determine which organization can best provide the requested assistance as they coordinate the regional and statewide response.
The VNG last served on state active duty in January to provide water distribution support to Richmond and also staged for potential winter weather at multiple locations across the state. Read more at
https://vngpao.info/wze2nmwr.