Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Anderson County emergency management outlines sheltering, radio capacity and volunteer plans
Summary
The countyEmergency Management Agency presented its four-phase approach to disaster planning and response, detailed partners including DOE and FEMA, said the CRC shelter could receive about 21,000 people in a mass reception scenario, and described volunteer CERT/DART programs and equipment needs.
Joseph Meade, Anderson CountyEmergency Management director, told commissioners the agencyis responsible for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and that EMAcoordinates planning across local agencies, federal partners and municipalities.
Meade said EMA works closely with the Department of Energyand site organizations at Oak Ridge (Y-12, ORNL) on sheltering and drills and that the countyis preparing a reception center that could receive ‘‘about 21,000 peopleto Anderson County’’ in a large evacuation. "We develop operational plans and strategies, whether that is severe shelters for winter storms, flooding, tornadoes, hazardous materials incidents," he said.
Josh Joiner, an emergency operations specialist with EMA, and Meade reviewed county assets including hazmat support, decontamination capability and a drone with thermal imaging used for wildfire overviews and search-and-rescue. Meade said EMA currently manages roughly 300 radio subscriber units across volunteer fire departments and some EMS and sheriffunits and handles programming and firmware updates while some agencies own and manage their own hardware.
During a commissioner Q&A, Meade said the new Emergency Operations Center is planned for Frank L. Diggs Industrial Park and that EMA is pursuing upgrades through grants and capital requests, including drone improvements and expanded CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and DART (disaster animal response) volunteer programs. He described a volunteer-run model for donations and distribution used elsewhere and said investigators are working with county counsel on volunteer applications and standard operating procedures.
Why it matters: The presentation laid out county capacity for multi-agency disasters, identified equipment and staffing shortfalls, and established follow-up items for commissioners including cost estimates and interoperability details for radio assets. Commissioners asked for a breakdown of the 300 radios (how many are assigned to volunteers, fire departments and county offices) and for timing on EOC bidding and construction.
