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Emergency management reports storm-planning work, commodity-flow study and regional hazard-mitigation kickoff
Summary
Geary County emergency director outlined recent fire responses, training, a seven-county commodity-flow study, hazard-mitigation planning and early discussions about storm shelters with the city; the USDA loan is on hold and a regional grant survey will be circulated by Flint Hills Regional Council.
Gary Burgess, Geary County emergency management director and rural fire chief, briefed the commission on recent incident activity, preparedness projects and regional planning work.
Burgess said the county's rural fire departments had handled about 20 to 30 calls in the reporting period, including vehicle and building fires and multiple-call incidents during severe-weather days. He reported that a new truck is in progress and that maintenance and condition assessments are under way for much of the aging fleet; Burgess noted some apparatus date back to the 1960s and 1980s, and the county is planning CIP funding for replacement.
On grant and planning work, Burgess said the Flint Hills Regional Council will circulate a survey to counties in the region to identify emergency-management needs that could support a regional grant application; the state will provide matching funds for qualified projects. He also reported the USDA loan the rural fire districts pursued is currently on hold.
The county is participating in a seven-county commodity-flow study that documents hazardous materials moving via road, rail and pipeline. Burgess said the first round of observation showed roughly 2'.5% of heavy trucks carried reportable hazardous quantities (goods below 999 pounds may not be placarded but still pose risk); the study will repeat observations and produce a regional report.
Burgess reported a kickoff meeting for the federally required five-year hazard-mitigation plan for Region 7 (the same seven counties). The regional plan is a precondition for many FEMA and state mitigation grants, he said, and the planning consultant's work will run several months with community engagement.
On storm shelters, Burgess said the Junction City manager had invited emergency-services department heads to discuss whether the city should identify or develop shelters and where they would be located. Burgess described liability and operational challenges raised by earlier conversations'for example, who would staff and open a shelter during watches versus warnings, whether shelters would accept pets and whether churches or other community facilities would be used.
Burgess said storm-spotter training had drawn roughly 70 attendees and noted the National Weather Service may move more sessions online due to its resource constraints. He closed by saying emergency managers will continue to coordinate with city leaders, police, fire and other agencies as the shelter discussion proceeds.
