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Emergency management outlines THIRA vulnerabilities, committee approves Volunteer Appreciation Month proclamation
Summary
Kane County emergency management presented its Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment, highlighted sheltering and dam-plan gaps, volunteer shortfalls, paused federal grants and the committee approved a resolution recognizing National Volunteer Appreciation Month.
Kane County emergency management presented its Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) to the Judicial Public Safety Committee on March 13, identifying sheltering, long-term recovery and dam emergency-action plans as top gaps. The committee also approved a resolution recognizing April as National Volunteer Appreciation Month.
Scott, an emergency management staff member, told the committee the THIRA is both a state mandate and a planning tool that helps identify the most important hazards to plan for. He said the county is strong in preparedness and response but has limited mitigation and recovery capacity. "One of our areas of concern is sheltering operations," Scott said, noting the county has a Red Cross trailer with 50 cots stored at the government center but lacks trained shelter staff. "We might have about 50 people countywide that have been trained," he said, and volunteers will often be unavailable when a shelter must open.
Scott said the county identified 36 dams within Kane County, eight classified as having significant-hazard potential and six as high-hazard potential, and that owners are responsible for emergency-action plans but the county did not have updated plans for many of the dams. He described other top vulnerabilities identified in the THIRA as cyber attacks (disruption to operations if networks went down), severe weather/tornadoes, floods (which can cause dam failures), hazardous materials transport and the potential for mass displacement from a terrorism-related event in nearby Chicago.
On resources and staffing, Scott said county volunteers have been productive but remain limited: he reported a current volunteer roster of 54 volunteers after losing two in the past days and that 18 applicants are lined up for the next academy. He also described federal grant pauses that affect emergency management funding, noting the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) reimbursement of about $85,000 per year was on hold and that mitigation grants and a commodity-flow hazardous-materials study were pending.
Committee members discussed the practical arrangements for the Red Cross trailer, with Mister Gripe asking whether the trailer would be ready to move if needed. Scott said the Red Cross owns the trailer and maintains it; the county has stored and transported it on request and coordinated deployment to a shelter after a recent apartment fire in West Dundee.
The committee voted to approve a resolution recognizing April as National Volunteer Appreciation Month. Mister Williams moved the resolution, Mister Tepe seconded, and the roll call recorded: Gumbs — yes; Pepe — yes; Williams — yes; Leonard — yes; Molina — yes. The motion passed.
Scott said he will return in coming months with a more detailed scenario-based presentation (a tornado scenario) to show gaps, capabilities and resource needs.
