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Signs at the jamboree site warn vendors and participants not to erect tents or other structures near electrical lines.
The tent housing the Order of the Arrow program for this year's Boy Scout Jamboree is the size of a football field.
Mikki Maxwell, owner of Maxwell Construction, installs two new pools. |
In less than three weeks, nearly 45,000 Boys Scouts and leaders will make their way to Fort A.P. Hill for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree.
For 10 days, the army base in Caroline County will be transformed into Jamboree City, where participants will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
Planning for this jamboree and centennial celebration has been ongoing since the last jamboree in 2005, a tragic year when four adult leaders from Alaska were electrocuted when a pole for a dining tent they were erecting hit a power line.
But organizers say they are working to make this "the best, most exciting, fun-filled, safest jamboree ever."
BSA's Jamboree Project Coordinator Jim Horner and Hank Hanrahan, a director at Fort A.P. Hill overseeing jamboree operations, took a Free Lance-Star reporter on an exclusive two-hour tour recently to show how the jamboree is coming to life.
To improve safety, the jamboree will have an emergency operations center that is four times larger than the one in 2005, Hanrahan said.
The Joint Multi-Agency Operations and Command Center was formed after Hurricane Katrina to improve the rapid response of the federal government for emergency situations.
That building is now being wired and filled with telephones and huge screens that will monitor the jamboree sites and traffic for security reasons.
Hanrahan said it would be like the 911 center of the jamboree staffed by all branches of the military, state and local agencies and will have access to all emergency services in the state. In 2005, this center was only staffed by base staff.
An 80-bed mobile hospital will be built that will have full medical emergency capabilities, and a Black Hawk helicopter will be available if transport to an area hospital is needed, Hanrahan said.
Jamboree officials have also created easement lines and put up bright-yellow signs to try to prevent Scouts from building tents or digging anywhere near electrical lines. "It's part of the massive education effort that both the Boy Scouts and military folks have implemented," Hanrahan said. "We've done everything we can to alert people that you need to be aware of your environment. It comes down to an individual responsibility."
Each tent will be given one light bulb and two electrical outlets, "so they can be able to do the simple things, but nothing elaborate," the BSA's Horner said.
There will also be 19 medical and first-aid centers throughout the campsite. A color-coded heat-index flag will fly atop the medical signs to alert Scouts what activities are allowed depending on the heat.
"When temperatures get up to a certain range, we limit the activities for the boys so they don't get overheated," said Horner, who moved to Bowling Green from Irving, Texas, last year to get the jamboree ready.
And to keep the thousands of 12- to 17-year-olds cool, officials have added two more 100,000-gallon swimming pools to the four that were in place in 2005. Another new and 'cool' addition is four man-made beaches along Lake Fishhook, which will be stocked with fish so Scouts can earn a merit badge for fishing. Other water-related merit badges can be earned for sailing, kayaking, canoeing and scuba diving.
Horner said there are more than 100 merit badge opportunities, which could lead some Scouts to go up in rank and even become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program.
Camp Thunder is where the jamboree's new shooting range will be. Scouts can get
"This will be the most highly sought out and used activity during the jamboree," Horner said. "And it will be highly supervised."
One of the biggest additions to this year's jamboree is the technology, Horner said. AT&T is an official sponsor of the jamboree and has invested more than $9 million in the jamboree with wi-fi, mobile sites and a 200-foot permanent tower.
Horner said the tower will be able to handle 50,000 cell phone calls and picture messaging at one time. And smart bands worn by all Scouts have bar codes on them that can be used to add money to an account so Scouts don't have to carry cash.
Hanrahan said while the jamboree will be fun for the Scouts, the main goal is safety. "We want Scouts to go away with memorable experiences and 10 days later go out through these gates upright and breathing," he said.
Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
Email: psmith@fredericksburg.com
