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County emergency official outlines evacuation, sheltering and training plans for Buena Vista area
Summary
A county emergency official briefed the Buena Vista trustees on evacuation and reunification plans, sheltering agreements, training for executive officials and first responders, and updates to damage-assessment and recovery annexes.
Rich Atkins, a county emergency-management presenter, briefed the Town of Buena Vista Board of Trustees on July 8 about ongoing preparedness work covering evacuation and reunification, sheltering agreements and training programs.
“At least 2 big projects” are underway, Atkins told trustees, noting one focuses on evacuation and reunification — traffic routes, sheltering and reunification plans — and the other on a county recovery plan and a damage-assessment annex. He said the county is updating shelter agreements, working with the American Red Cross on standardized facility evaluations and planning exercises for non-overnight reunification shelters staffed locally until Red Cross teams can arrive.
Atkins described an upcoming local training on evacuation and reentry to update a plan last revised in 2018 and said the county will run executive-official overviews, incident-command briefings and nonemergency responder classes tailored for public-works and airport staff. He also said the county wants to break out municipality-specific annexes from the county emergency plan so each town’s roles and responsibilities are clearer.
Trustees asked whether recent large public events were considered in evacuation planning; Atkins said the county worked with event sponsors on emergency-action plans and emphasized traffic direction, staff availability and key traffic-control points as critical concerns. He invited trustees and staff to an after-action meeting and urged officials to send specific feedback after the large festival that had caused prolonged traffic congestion.
Atkins also discussed flood and wildfire risk, telling trustees Buena Vista faces a higher local flood threat and that the county will pursue exercises with local partners including EMS, hospital, fire district and utilities. He said the county planned further outreach on shelters, evacuation routes and reunification and asked trustees to expect invitations to training and exercises this summer.
