Lackawanna County Emergency Management highlights mobile command center, response vehicles and Code Red alert system

At a tour of the Lackawanna County Emergency Services Center in Jessup, Tom Taylor, director of the Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency, described the agency’s mobile command center, response vehicles and community alert program and said the equipment helps the county plan for and respond to disasters.

Taylor said the agency “houses all our equipment” at the center and creates plans for the county, including plans for high-hazard dams, every daycare and every school district in the county as well as for businesses that store hazardous chemicals. “We like to, try and figure out what's gonna happen before it happens,” he said.

Brian Gray, operations and training manager for the agency, demonstrated the mobile command center, describing it as “one of the assets that we have that we can deploy throughout the county for large scale incidents.” Gray said the vehicle operates like “a 9-1-1 center on wheels,” with radio heads, computer systems and CAD functions compatible with the county 9-1-1 center on the Hill of Jessup and that it can be deployed to serve as an on-scene command post during prolonged incidents.

Taylor and Gray showed additional field equipment. Taylor pointed to a Ford F-350 response vehicle that carries spill response gear — including speedy-dry, pads, booms and lighting — and said the trucks also carry forcible-entry tools to assist fire departments. He said the agency uses specialized chemical meters on those trucks when responding to fuel spills or chemical releases and noted, “we do have 2 of them in the county.” Taylor cited recent ammonia leaks as examples of incidents the trucks have responded to.

The agency also demonstrated a Polaris Ranger UTV that Taylor described as an asset for searches and festival operations: staff have assisted the district attorney’s office and the state police on searches and have used the UTV at Montage Mountain events to move quickly across terrain.

Taylor said many of the vehicles and equipment were purchased in conjunction with the Northeast Counterterrorism Task Force and are shared among 10 surrounding counties, allowing the county to call on additional assets when needed.

The presentation concluded with an explanation of Code Red, the county’s emergency notification program. Taylor said Code Red is free and voluntary: residents must sign up to receive alerts that can warn of evacuations, 9-1-1 outages or prolonged roadway closures. “If you follow the graphic, you follow the instructions, and you'll be getting the alerts,” he said.

There were no formal actions, votes or policy decisions during the tour; the session consisted of an informational briefing and equipment demonstration.

Taylor closed by thanking attendees and saying he hoped they learned from the visit.