Et cetera : NCCC FEMA Corps Team Assists FEMA Region VII with Inventory Activities

Pine 5 member Scott helps verify inventoried items during an audit.

By Nick Humphries

On March 27 FEMA Corps logistics team Pine 5 was redeployed to Kansas City, Mo. to continue working with FEMA at their Region VII warehouse and headquarters. The team was previously working in Kansas City with Region VII in October before being deployed to assist with Hurricane Sandy operations in New Jersey shortly after.

For most of their recent time in Kansas City, Pine 5 was split between working at the warehouse and the Region VII headquarters, both a short drive from each other. At the warehouse, five members of Pine 5 had been working to complete various inventory management activities such as taking inventory of Region VII’s accountable property using portable barcode scanners with built-in mobile LIMS (Logistics Inventory Management System) software. Members of the team also participated in Region VII’s Annual Inventory Audit and thus accounted for 99% of their property (4600+ items).

Additionally, members at the warehouse prepared 24 Disaster Recovery Center kits which, in case of a disaster within the region (Including Kan., Mo., Neb., and Iowa), would be sent out to Disaster Recovery Centers in affected areas. At the Region VII headquarters, four members of Pine 5 had been taking inventory with portable barcode scanners, and were responsible for collecting employee signatures to update hand receipts for issued FEMA property.

Ultimately, the work that Pine 5 has completed will ensure that the region is better prepared for potential disasters, and can more effectively respond to them. Keeping track of, as well as sorting and organizing regional property, ensures that Region VII has the right tools to get the job done, not to mention ensuring that each tool is easily accessible and ready to be utilized at any given moment.