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Emergency services: county completes DHS preparedness assessment; crews respond to flood incidents
Summary
Office of Emergency Services described a county emergency preparedness assessment with DHS, updated railroad spill planning, multiple water-rescue calls and localized flooding that led to road washouts and area command activation.
The county’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) briefed the committee on recent preparedness work and several flood and water-rescue incidents.
OES staff said they hosted a county emergency preparedness assessment with the Department of Homeland Security — the first such assessment since 2020 — that included more than 30 stakeholders from utilities, fire, EMS, law enforcement and 9-1-1. The assessment examined local threats and response capabilities; a final assessment report is expected for review.
OES staff also reported coordination with the Department of Environmental Conservation and the regional HAZMAT consortium to update railroad spill response plans that apply to Finger Lakes Railway and CSX.
Over the recent high-water events, OES said they received 24 calls for flooded roadways in a three-hour span and established an area command at Newhall Fire Department staffed by two deputy coordinators. The briefing named several impacted routes: Route 34B through King Ferry; Route 38A from New Hope down through Moravia to the county line; Montgomery Road in the town of Summer Hill; and Roe (Raul) Road in New Grove. Two roads had complete inundation at washout points, OES staff said.
The office also assisted in a swift-water response request from the village of Jordan, which required evacuation of several households. The Corps of Engineers asked campgrounds along the canal in Weedsport to relocate RVs and equipment away from rising waters.
OES noted recent operational training including rope-rescue weekends with 25 attendees, wildland search-and-rescue skills planned for June, and an exterior firefighting course starting later in the month. The county’s search-and-rescue team also deployed to assist Onondaga County on a missing-child request, the briefing said.
