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After-action review: county urged to boost emergency staffing and communications after Hurricane Helene
Summary
An outside emergency-management consultant told the Avery County Board of Commissioners that Hurricane Helene exposed gaps in staffing, communications and resource pre‑positioning and recommended a standalone emergency-management unit, more training and at least one additional Viper radio tower to improve countywide coverage.
An emergency-management consultant delivered a detailed after-action briefing to the Avery County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 6, saying Hurricane Helene produced catastrophic flooding, landslides and infrastructure failures across western North Carolina and exposed operational gaps in local response.
The consultant praised local responders and volunteers but said the county’s emergency-management office ‘‘is not adequate to support 24-hour operations’’ and recommended creating a dedicated emergency-management division separate from the fire marshal’s duties. He added that communications were fragmented: ‘‘No single countywide communication infrastructure is reliable,’’ and ‘‘at least 1 additional Viper tower will be needed in this county to give 90% coverage mobile to mobile.’’
Why it matters: Commissioners heard a multi-point plan meant to speed recovery and improve resilience before the next storm. The consultant argued that better training, tabletop exercises, clearer contracts for mutual-aid resources and improved documentation would increase the county’s ability to recover reimbursements and coordinate outside assistance.
During the presentation the consultant reviewed findings from an early-August assessment and subsequent surveys of county departments and first responders. He recommended that county staff be cross-trained to fill EOC roles during large activations, that the county evaluate whether a contracted emergency manager should become a full-time position, and that the county build a preparedness checklist assigning responsibilities (tax office, sheriff, commissioners, county manager) for major events.
On communications, the consultant noted that Avery County uses VHF channels and the state dministered North Carolina Viper system but lacks full Viper coverage. He said restoring and expanding tower coverage would be costly—‘‘one to three millions probably’’—but urged that many resilience steps are lower-cost (training, tabletops, policy changes and targeted equipment such as generators for critical sites).
Board members responded by acknowledging the work done during the storm and raising budget questions about how to pay for capital items. One commissioner urged that the county adopt a mindset of budgeting for resilience: ‘‘every dollar spent on resilience planning equals $13 on future expenditures,’’ cited during discussion as a planning rationale. The consultant offered to provide a 38-page action plan and working-group structure for next steps.
Next steps: Commissioners received the report and discussed items for future budget planning and staffing; no formal vote was taken on structural changes during the meeting. The consultant recommended follow-up action items including tabletop exercises, workforce planning to cover 24-hour EOC operations, and evaluation of the county—ommunications footprint.
