EMA reports FEMA mitigation plan approval, hazmat flow study and radio tower progress

Ben Nall, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, updated the Board of Medina County Commissioners on recent preparedness work, saying FEMA has approved the county mitigation plan and that a grant-funded hazardous-materials flow study is complete.

Nall said the hazardous-materials flow study surveyed truck and rail routes through the county and will inform the county’s hazmat planning. He also reported completion of a county mitigation plan that received FEMA approval, which he said clears that planning requirement.

Nall described training activity year to date — 65 trainings — including an Amish safety day, hazmat-for-dispatchers training and a confined-space technician class for rope-team members. He said the multi-agency radio tower project with the sheriff’s office was underway and expected to complete around October, and that FEMA approval positions the county to move forward on mitigation projects, including a 7 Springs Lake Dam mitigation project that has resumed after a delay.

He said team deployments have increased this year: the county had logged 52 incidents so far and every team had been deployed in the past three months. Current grants include the homeland-security radio tower project, a hazmat planning grant, EMPG payroll funding for emergency management staff, and an LEPC grant for next year. Nall said some payroll funding from FEMA was delayed this fiscal year but that approvals and disbursements were under way at the state level.

Commissioners thanked Nall and asked follow-up questions about animal-rescue responses and potential team training to expand capability for livestock or equine rescues. No board action was taken.