OSCODA TOWNSHIP – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it has no immediate plans to use an Oscoda airport as a disaster response staging area for the region.
The agency confirmed Monday that staff visited and evaluated the former Oscoda-Wurtsmith Air Force base and several other sites in September. But there have been no final decisions or agreements signed.
“FEMA routinely assesses the viability of sites that may be used in future disasters. There is no plan to use the Wurtsmith location to stage commodities at this time. We have no trailers at the location or on the way. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding,” FEMA said in a statement.
“It is important to note that just because we consider a site, or even sign a memorandum of agreement for future consideration, there is no guarantee that a site will ever be used,” the agency statement added.
Oscoda Township Supervisor Bill Palmer said FEMA had chosen the airport as a “stationing hub for emergency services” and would “be bringing in some 350 semi-trailers of equipment to park on the base,” according to a recording of the meeting.
“So if you see a lot of trucks coming into the base, that’s what it is,” he said at the meeting. “Nothing to get scared about there.”
But FEMA said Monday there are no plans at this time to locate equipment at Wurtsmith, which was decommissioned as an Air Force base in the early 1990s.
“We have no trailers at the location or on the way,” the agency said in a statement. “This is an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
The tour and evaluation of the 2,200-acre airport was meant to assess whether the facility had the space to store securely FEMA supplies and equipment in the event of a disaster.
Since an October meeting, Palmer said the information has “spiraled out of control” and he’s received multiple concerned phone calls about the situation, including worries that the semi trailers would be used to house undocumented immigrants.
“When I made my report at our township board meeting, I mentioned FEMA was bringing in 350 semis,” Palmer told The Detroit News. “What I meant to say was they were considering Wurtsmith as a secure location.
“To my knowledge, no decision has been made by FEMA.”
Kalitta, the airport’s largest tenant, has a history of government contracts, including transporting PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic and participating in emergency evacuations out of Afghanistan in 2021.
– Contributors to this story include Beth LaBlanc of the Detroit News, FEMA, and Oscoda Township.
