Dover Air Force Base on Ebola alert

Personnel at Dover Air Force Base are gearing up for a potential mission to aid areas of West Africa affected by Ebola.

Leaders at the base worked through a table top exercise of scenarios aircrews at Dover may face if called to fly missions in Ebola-plagued areas of Africa. They’re also prepping for what they call the “unlikely event” that someone might show Ebola symptoms after returning to the base.

“We’re taking all the necessary steps and implementing protocols to minimize potential risks to any and all personnel when called to support the [Operation United Assistance] mission,” said Col. Michael Grismer, 436th Airlift Wing commander. 

Those steps include providing “robust personal protective equipment kits” on each mission and training base personnel on how to handle a passenger who is potentially symptomatic while in flight.

DAFB is not directly supporting Operation United Assistance at this time. A C-17 Globemaster III left the base on Monday to fly to a staging area outside of Ebola-affected areas in support of that operation.