Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Preparedness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Seward County work session flags radio, EOC and volunteer gaps after major fires
Summary
County officials told commissioners that radio programming issues, missed EOC activation and volunteer training limits hindered parts of the response to the River/Andrew Lane Fire; speakers proposed a small committee to address communications, shelters and mutual-aid logistics.
Seward County commissioners heard a consistent message in the March 2026 work session: communications and preplanning were the primary weaknesses in the response to the recent multi-county fires, even as mutual aid and community volunteers helped prevent greater losses.
Mark Johnson of Road and Bridge told commissioners that road-and-bridge radios “didn't work that great in that river bottom,” and that calls for help sometimes went unanswered for 10–15 minutes because of reception and channel issues. County staff and LEPC officials said several radios issued to administration had been reprogrammed during updates and contained only weather-watch frequencies, limiting access to state talk groups that would allow outside assets to join a common channel.
County administration and LEPC representatives said activating the emergency operations center (EOC) earlier would have centralized public information and asset tracking and reduced confusion about where to dispatch tankers and discs. The county administrator said radios had been taken for reprogramming and that the absence of a single, active EOC complicated coordination.
Speakers proposed forming a small working committee (4–5 people) or using existing LEPC/OATC structures to develop plans for: designated talk-group channel assignments during events; prepositioned supply trailers and muster points; clear mutual-aid diesel/refueling plans; and shelter MOUs with churches or schools (including plans for pets and HEPA filtration). Several officials volunteered to help stand up that group.
Officials also discussed longer-term volunteer-recruitment and training realities: volunteers typically receive only a few hours of training versus full‑time firefighters’ annual training hours, and volunteers’ availability during overnight calls is inherently limited. Commissioners asked staff to compile recommendations from incident reports and to return with a proposed committee membership and work plan.
No formal vote was held to create the committee during the session; commissioners instead agreed to collect incident reports and pursue follow-up planning.
