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Coffee County EMA board reviews Bonnaroo traffic, medical and emergency coordination plans
Summary
Board members described how police, fire and EMS will cover festival grounds and new day-parking that could hold about 5,000 cars, outlined on‑site dispatch and tabletop exercises, and flagged increased traffic where day parking shifts ingress to Raxall Road and Highway 55.
The Coffee County Emergency Management Advisory Board met May 28 and reviewed public-safety preparations for the upcoming Bonnaroo festival, including traffic reassignments, on‑site medical coverage and coordinated incident command.
Adam Floyd, speaking for the police department, said the primary operational change this year is traffic control: sheriff and highway patrol units have been reallocated to focus on the venue, which required local officers to take over some traffic posts and to run 12‑hour shifts with no days off. "The only really change that affects us is the traffic, direction traffic," Floyd said, adding the department will run a training for civilian employees at 9 a.m. at City Hall to prepare people who will direct traffic.
Floyd said Bonnaroo has leased a field from landowner Allen Howard for day parking across from Powers Road and Bushey Branch; he said organizers expect the new lot to hold "about 5,000 cars," shifting daily ingress and egress onto Raxall Road and Highway 55 and increasing traffic on that side of the property.
A Coffey County EMS representative told the board that EMS plans to staff two ambulances on-site and operate a medical post at the brick house near Kimberly Lane (referred to in the meeting as the "Cox House"), handling most care on-site and transporting patients off-site when necessary. The EMS representative said last year crews ran about "45 or 50" calls during the festival week.
Assistant Chief Tyler Hickerson of Manchester Fire described his department’s role: providing personnel to support Manchester Police and to staff traffic-control posts. Hickerson said Manchester’s contribution equated to roughly 1,000 hours of traffic control during the event and that firefighters will cover multiple shifts. Speakers noted that some fire and rescue staffing is volunteer-driven and tied to event incentives such as wristbands.
Allen, the EMA representative, said EMA and Bonnaroo command posts will be co-located opposite one another to ease coordination, that the county will run two tabletop exercises before the event, and that on‑site dispatchers will be present for the third consecutive year. He described recent work to map event roads and permanent-structure addresses to improve 911 response for first responders not previously familiar with the site.
Communication between Bonnaroo and county dispatch was described as interoperable: Bonnaroo runs its own radio system but its dispatch is co‑located with county dispatchers and can hand off medical 911 calls when required.
Board members did not take a formal vote on operational plans during the meeting. The board set a tentative timeframe for the next quarterly meeting in August and adjourned.
