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After-action review finds major communication and staffing gaps after Hurricane Helene; consultant urges training, VIPR tower and separate EM office
Summary
An outside emergency-management consultant told commissioners that Hurricane Helene exposed gaps in staffing, communications and resource prepositioning; recommendations include adding at least one VIPR tower, separating emergency management from the fire marshal, and running tabletop exercises and training.
An emergency-management consultant briefed Avery County commissioners Oct. 6 on an after-action assessment of response and recovery following Hurricane Helene, identifying both strong community response and key gaps the county should address before the next major event.
The consultant said local first responders, county staff and volunteers “stepped up” during the storm, enabling a response that limited fatalities. He described the event as catastrophic, with widespread flooding, landslides and infrastructure damage, and said many roads and bridges were impassable during the critical response period.
The report identified several problem areas: insufficient emergency-management staffing to support continuous 24-hour operations; lack of a single, countywide communications infrastructure (the county does not have full VIPR coverage); limited prepositioning of outside resources; and the need for clearer contracts and roles. The consultant recommended at least one additional VIPR tower to reach roughly 90% mobile-to-mobile radio coverage and estimated the cost of a Viper tower in the county at roughly $1 million to $3 million. He also urged separating emergency management duties from the county fire marshal’s office so each organization could focus on its statutory responsibilities.
Other recommendations included creating preparedness checklists that define roles for elected officials and staff during events, conducting tabletop exercises and mock events with partner agencies, training county staff to perform multiple EOC roles, establishing small working groups to evaluate specific gaps (communications, generators, logistics), and developing paperwork and documentation routines to support federal/state reimbursement claims.
The consultant delivered a 38-page after-action document to county staff and recommended developing an implementation plan with prioritized actions, some of which would be low-cost (training, tabletops) and others requiring capital investment (VIPR tower, generators). Commissioners commended the community response and discussed the budgeting challenge of funding resilience projects that may seldom be used but can substantially reduce future costs if implemented.
Provenance: Presentation and slides at 2224.73–3273.105; Q&A and commissioner comments 3288.18–3560.86.
Ending: The consultant offered ongoing assistance; commissioners and staff discussed forming working groups and budgeting for both low-cost training and high-cost infrastructure projects in future budget cycles.
