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Emergency management, fire and EMS report training, hazard-mitigation and fuels work
Summary
Emergency management and public-safety officials updated the commissioners on recent incident coordination, FEMA hazard-mitigation review, regional deployments, park fuels-reduction work and EMS training and staffing.
Officials from emergency management, fire services and EMS briefed the Flathead County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 11 about recent incidents, training, hazard mitigation and fuels-reduction work across the county.
Emergency management and hazard mitigation Juanita Nelson, emergency management planner, reported recent incident coordination and stakeholder meetings, including talks with Burlington Northern railroad police ahead of large events and an EMAC (Emergency Management Assistance Compact) deployment request from California that resulted in strike teams from Whitefish and Bigfork participating in a response. Nelson said the regional hazard mitigation plan is in FEMA review and that state DES hopes to reach an "approval pending FEMA approval" status by late March, after which the county will proceed with legal review and formal adoption.
Training, wildland fire and fuels reduction Lincoln Chute, fire service area manager, told commissioners that collaboration among fire chiefs, parks and contractors has accelerated fuels-reduction projects in county parks. Work in multiple parks — initially funded for about 16 acres — has expanded and, with additional local interest and contractor capacity, is expected to total roughly 26 acres under the current program, Chute said. He described outreach and training for local fire district personnel, praised stakeholder collaboration with Burlington Northern, and urged continued momentum on forest-management work to reduce wildfire risk.
EMS training, symposium and system coordination Alan Brown, EMS program manager, summarized training and workforce developments: a current EMT class that should finish written exams in mid-March, multiple ACLS/PALS/CPR courses, a local EMS symposium (Sub 0 Summit) with roughly 125 registrations for Saturday, and the rollout of ImageTrend for electronic patient-care reporting. Brown also described coordination with Logan Health about NICU and women's health, discussed ambulance staffing concerns at Logan EMS amid organizational changes, and said the county is exploring a second/assistant medical director role to provide continuity if the medical director becomes unavailable.
Other items Nelson said the county is pursuing emergency-notification software and will bring vendor quotes for selection. Chute highlighted interagency radio user group discussions and clarified that fire chiefs submitted suggested clarifications to subdivision regulations that are moving through planning discussions. Brown described planning for next year’s EMS symposium, a vehicle-extrication exercise with the landfill for EMT trainees and negotiations over radio-channel recording software for QA/QI review.
Ending: Officials emphasized cross-agency coordination, ongoing training, and the need for continued grant and community support to expand fuels-reduction work and EMS capacity.
