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Putnam Valley Initiates Start of Emergency Management Action Plan
by Edward Paul Greiff
Recently the Town of Putnam Valley has been surrounded by severe weather disturbances in neighboring municipalities. They have had tornados pass through, violent thunderstorms with hail the size of golf balls, and lightening that cut trees in half and laid them across the roads. Electricity and traffic lights were interrupted by these disturbances. Fortunately it only lasted for several hours but what if it lasted for weeks, a month or more? Any Town would have a difficult time managing and coordinating its cleanup efforts.
Fortunately Putnam County has an Emergency Management Action Plan that can be activated by the County Executive declaring a state of emergency under Article 2B of New York State law. Currently, Putnam Valley has none.
Putnam Valley Town Supervisor Sam Davis says, "Shortly after I took office in January 2006 we had a horrible winter storm and as a result of that we had two serious electrical emergencies. I was surprised to find out our Town had no emergency management plan in place and as a result I felt something had to be done. I spoke with others and Ron Cummings came forward and agreed to help us write a plan."
Councilwoman Wendy Whetsel also expressed her concerns that Putnam Valley did not have an Emergency Management Action Plan when she made reference to the Town of Mamaroneck's recent flood and state of emergency, a result of continuous torrential rain storms that they never thought would happen to them.
Mr. and Mrs. William Knubel live in Putnam Valley and they can speak firsthand about being grateful for a town having a wellorganized Emergency Management Action Plan. They were in mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean flying back from a vacation in Africa when the pilot received emergency orders to divert his plane to Gander, Newfoundland because "The United States was under attack." He and other planes landed and deposited 11,000 people in a town of 10,000 residents on September 11, 2001, "It was the day the world came to Gander, Newfoundland."
Gander had an emergency plan already in place and almost instantaneously they were mobilized; some were responsible for shelter, others for food, clothing, medical needs, security, companionship, communications and much more.
When Ron Cummings spoke at the recent Town Board meeting held May 9, 2007 he said, "My disaster planning meetings are a disaster - only eight people showed up for the last one. I guess they're not interested or think it can't happen to them." He then went on to introduce Adam Siebling the Deputy Commissioner of Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services (Web site www.pcbes.org). In addition to that roll, Siebling is also involved in working with all the other counties, the state, and the federal government in emergency planning. "Adam Siebling has given us a lot of help," said Cummings, "the county has a very extensive action plan. We have been able to create a plan that is not only compatible with the County's but in many ways goes along with what they already have in place, so our plan, and the County's plan, and the State's plan, work in harmony with each other.
Together, Siebling and Cummings produced a draft copy of an Emergency Management Action Plan for Putnam Valley. A copy was given to each Board Member for review and adoption. "It is a living document," said Siebling, "it needs to be updated as the need arises, but it is a first step."
The draft copy of the plan is some 36 pages long and contains detailed information on possible emergencies, including Bomb Scare-Explosion-Civil Disturbance, Air Contamination, Water Contamination, Drought-Water Emergency, Earthquake, Energy Emergency, Fire, Flood-High Water, Hazardous Materials Spill, Hurricane-Tornado-Severe Thunderstorm, Ice Jam, Ice Storm, Landslide, Oil Spill, Power Outage, Radiological Accident, and Snowstorm-Blizzards. The draft also covers Law Enforcement, Line of Authority, Reception Centers, and Local State of Emergency Declarations.
The primary purpose of the plan is to lessen the effects of a serious emergency caused by natural or man-made disasters. It also provides for recovery to normal conditions as quickly as possible by ensuring a timely and effective response. It enables the Town Supervisor to make decisions concerning actions to be taken without having to waste time planning a strategy for each emergency. Adequate training of responders and frequent drills are an essential part of plan implementation. Revision of the plan, based upon drill experiences and development of new strategies, will increase the effectiveness of the plan.
The person responsible for public safety in a town is the Supervisor; in the county it is the County Executive. These are the officials who can declare a state of emergency.
The Town Board has agreed to review this draft copy and take action on it.
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