 |
 |
 |
||
|
||||
|
October 5, 2005
Southeast Inyo fights for disaster response equipment, manpower
By ROBIN FLINCHUM
A number of similar trailers were deployed throughout Inyo County's Owens Valley, Postle said, but the arrival of the Southeast Inyo trailer had been delayed by paperwork problems. The vehicle was finally delivered last week by Lt. Bill Lutze of the Inyo County Sheriff's Department and contains three power generators, a small number of emergency cots, blankets and personal hygiene items, as well as hazardous material cleanup equipment including radiation meters and low level protective suits and face masks. Postle was grateful to receive the trailer, he said, but it was just "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of what needs to be done in Southeast Inyo to prepare the local communities for disaster management. It has long been a concern of Postle's, something he brings up, or attempts to bring up, at every multi-agency responder's meeting he attends, he said. And this past summer some of his fears about local preparedness were realized. Last July Postle faced a sort of mini Katrina of his own. It wasn't a hurricane or a flood of colossal proportions, just a couple of downed power lines that left his community without air conditioning or water during some of the hottest weather of the summer. Based on erroneous information from Southern California Edison, Postle believed that the power would be restored before he could activate a disaster response team from the Inyo County seat four hours away. As it turned out, however, in some areas the power remained out for as long as 52 hours. Postle's emergency medical response and firefighting crews set up an emergency shelter in the Tecopa Community Center and went door to door in Tecopa handing out bottled water and offering to transport residents to the shelter, where a small generator kept a fan running and food was available. But when all was said and done, Postle felt that his team's efforts fell short and that at the heart of the problem was a lack of good planning. And, he said, even if he had contacted the county's Office of Emergency Services, he wasn't entirely sure what the response would be. Inyo County has a hefty Emergency Response Plan, and Postle has a copy of it on his desk but "it was written by people on the west end of Inyo County. It doesn't seem to cover things that could happen here. The resources on this side of the county are not the same. In the Owens Valley you can't walk anywhere without bumping into some agency and they can all call on one another for resources to fill in the gaps. Out here there's only one agency that's always present and that's us." Although the current plan is in the process of revision by the county, Postle says he hasn't seen the new document yet or had a chance to review whether it might better serve Southeast Inyo. Postle and his crew, with the limited help of a local representative from Inyo County Health and Human Services, are the only line of defense between a community largely comprised of retired and disabled seniors and whatever disaster might be looming in their future. That's a responsibility Postle doesn't take lightly. After the power outage in July, Postle wrote a report of the incident, including a summary of his agency's response and detailing areas where he felt the Southeast Inyo Fire Protection District might have improved operations. He submitted the report to the county in hopes of encouraging dialog about improving disaster response in Southeast Inyo. Postle is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of communication among the various agencies necessary to create a truly workable plan, one that will benefit Southeast Inyo as well as other parts of Inyo and even Nye counties, since the two are so directly linked by water sources and common roadways, not to mention proximity to the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository. Currently, he said, if he were to work from Inyo County's plan as it is, he would "have to improvise to make it work." The plan, for instance, doesn't cover electrical outages, Postle said. These tend to occur most often during the summer electrical storms and, in an area where temperatures can rise to 120 degrees, and most water is delivered by electrical pumps, "that is a disaster." Although his recent experience was "insignificant compared to Katrina, it has a lot of similarities in terms of problems identified." For Postle, it's frustrating that most agencies "have to wait for a big disaster to take action. Most agencies are reactive rather than proactive and this all has to do with funding. I think that's pretty sad. With the national economic situation we're in, I don't understand why we spend so much money planning manned missions to Mars. I'm a big science fiction fan and would love to see that, but not when you've got cities falling apart and an infrastructure that is decaying." Postle's ideal would be to see all involved agencies come to the table to discuss the possible disaster scenarios, then brainstorm solutions, and most importantly, field test preparedness plans to identify the glitches before real people are affected by any planning flaws. "Let's talk emergency planning in simple terms, make sure all jurisdictions and agencies are on the same page and focus on how we can help each other out. Currently, we have no mission of unified command to help each other." Meanwhile, Postle continues in his efforts to build up Southeast Inyo's ability to respond on its own by soliciting input from local residents and attempting to generate interest in a Southern Inyo Fire Department Auxiliary. A well-organized auxiliary could take care of emergency shelter needs if necessary, leaving trained response crews to tend to any fires and medical situations, Postle said. Chief Postle encouraged all interested parties to attend Southern Inyo Fire Protection District board meetings at 5 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month at the fire station in Tecopa. |
|
