Local Emergency Planning Committee continues plans, informs community
Local Emergency Planning Committee and Streets Department continue plans, inform public
Health officials and emergency managers were on hand Thursday for the Local Emergency Planning Committee’s disaster preparedness seminar, held in the Ellen Eccles Theatre. There were 220 people in attendance.
Keith Larson, an environmental health scientist with the LEPC said there has not been one positive case of Anthrax in Utah to date.
The audience laughed while Larson read from a list of packages deemed suspicious and reported to emergency personnel.
“We’ve responded to Ajax, an advertisement for the Holy Koran, a manual for applied field hydrology and a medallion,” Larson said.
He said disease monitoring for anthrax and other diseases is currently underway on a nationwide scale. If there is a problem, antibiotics can be shipped anywhere in the United States within 12 hours, Larson said. He said a system of “push packs,” which are stores of antibiotics in secret locations around the country are ready to be loaded on planes and flown where needed.
Capt. Bob DeGasser of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office said one of the greatest dangers to Cache Valley comes not from terrorists, but from high winds or ice storms. He said in the event of a major disaster, people should not call 911 because the phone system will not handle everyone’s phone calls.
Logan City Fire Department Chief Jeff Peterson said another reason people shouldn’t call 911 is the limited resources emergency personnel have.
“In the earthquakes in California in the ’70s and ’80s, all fire trucks had left fire stations within eight minutes,” Peterson said.
DeGasser said, “People need to be prepared to take care of themselves first.”
Homeland Security officer with the state of Utah Bob Fowler said citizens can help by reporting suspicious incidents to police. He said his office was enacted by Gov. Mike Leavitt after Sept. 11 to protect the infrastructure in Utah. One of its duties is to monitor the 50 private airports in Utah for problems, he said.
“It’s much easier to interdict a plane on the ground than in the air,” Fowler said.
Al Cooper, a liaison officer with the division of emergency management, has helped with emergency planning for the 2002 Olympic Games. He said he has taught emergency preparedness since he can remember, and said people can prepare better to act in an emergency.
“A Utahn, is someone who has six bags of wheat in the basement and not the foggiest idea of what to do with it,” he said jokingly. The audience responded with laughter.
However, Cooper said Utah residents are known to be among the best prepared and best trained in civil preparedness. He said Utah citizens are some of the most skilled and dedicated people.
Lt. Kim Cheshire of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office was optimistic.
“I hope you are not frightened,” he said. “I hope you are not burying your heads in the sand. The scriptures say ‘If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.'”
Cheshire said citizens need to work together with leaders because unlike larger cities, Logan doesn’t have the luxury of large masses of emergency personnel.
Assistant Cache County Fire Chief and Chairman of the LEPC Jon Keller said although Cache County isn’t prepared for every emergency, the county is prepared for most instances. He said Weber County officials are looking at how to achieve Cache County’s level of preparedness.
Keller said a variety of courses are available for all citizens. They can review information shared in the seminar and learn how to respond effectively to help themselves, churches, schools or businesses.
Streets Department – new story
With its fleet of backhoes, front-end loaders and dump trucks, Logan’s Streets Department will be one of the first departments to undertake emergency procedures.
But, as with other departments in the city, the Streets Department will make sure its employees’ families are safe first, said Jed Al-Imari, manager of the Streets Department.
Al-Imari used blizzards as an example of a common emergency his department responds to. After making sure families are safe, Al-Imari said he needs to get his employees to the Logan City Service Center to start opening roads.
“We have main arteries that need to be opened,” he said. “These are 1000 West, 600 East and 1400 North.”
Al-Imari said Main Street, a state highway, is under the state of Utah’s jurisdiction.
He said he works closely and maintains contact with Logan’s safety manager Scott Douglas.
“I’ll contact Scott, tell him what has happened and then we’ll continue opening roads,” Al-Imari said.
If snow is too deep or drifts are too large for conventional snowplows, the department will use its heavy artillery.
“We have a big snowblower that shoots snow about 150 feet,” Al-Imari said.
He said the snowblower can remove drifts that are seven or eight feet deep.
All department employees are trained every year, he said.
“Scott puts on 25 training programs each year that we go through,” he said.
Al-Imari said each of his employees is trained to operate each of the department’s vehicles.