Camp Pendleton, Calif. -- The Facilities Maintenance Department, or FMD, on Camp Pendleton, handles a wide range of problems on base dealing with utilities such as electricity, carpentry, and plumbing.
FMD is a 24-hour work-force that takes care of the daily maintenance and operations of the base.
“Any time you call after hours for an emergency or even during the day there’s someone there on the other end that will pick up the phone and dispatch an emergency response,” said Cmdr. Joshua Malkin, Public Works Officer, FMD. “That’s why anytime we have a major outage or any type of emergency related to facilities on the base; typically it will be FMD personnel. In these case high-voltage electricians, that will be the first to respond.”
Recent power outages, flooding and facilities issues in housing communities and other parts of the base have caused FMD to be extremely busy.
The men and women of FMD work behind the scenes, at all hours and in all conditions, to get to the root of the problem and sort it out as quickly as possible.
During an emergency that exceeds the department’s capabilities to respond, the Facilities Engineering Acquisition Division, or FEAD, is contracted as part of the organization to handle the work.
The department received calls Feb. 18 to the Stuart Mesa housing community, when a storm knocked out power in a portion of the neighborhood.
“I realize it’s a hardship and an inconvenience,” said Malkin, in response to the outages. “Just know we’re working on it and that we’re working all angles to get the power restored as soon as possible.”
The workers, after a few hours in the rain, were able to find and fix the problem. However, some issues can take days, or even weeks to fix.
The department worked for three weeks following the Jan. 20th storm to get the power back on after the Edson Range staff barracks had its main transformer flooded.
“Many of the times we judge our success on the calls we don’t get because that means everything is working, and people are happy and content,” said Malkin.