Westchester County Fire Chiefs Seeking Donations To Help Hurricane Victims

Disaster Preparedness - Talk Is Cheap

What’s been proven with Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Irene along the eastern coast and Hurricane Sandy in the northeast is that local governments, right on up through the state and the federal governments, are not capable of handling emergencies well, if at all! The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is little more than a “front” for the federal government. Their “help” is nothing more than pointing victims to someone else for assistance. Does this sound like any Town Supervisor we know? They, and our politicians, get repeated publicity and in the end, the victims get little or no help at all. We’re reminded of former President Reagan’s famous quote, “I’m from the government and I'm here to help.”

Many in emergency services are used to responding and attacking anything from a small, single incident to something of a larger magnitude, including mass casualty incidents. The Fire Service trains in the routine tasks of hooking up to a hydrant to dealing with hazardous chemical spills. The EMS Service spends time learning to ask the right questions to ascertain whether aid is even needed. 

The emergency services organizations need to be prepared for any type of emergency. Our Town leadership should also be participating and leading the way. Sadly, they’d rather talk about it than actually do something about it. Last year the Town paid a hefty fee to have Jonathan Raser, to work with Police Chief DeCarlo, to develop a Greenburgh Hazard Mitigation Plan. It was adopted (and paid for) only for us to learn it is merely a vehicle to allow the Town to apply for grant money. 

There are several phases to a disaster that include Mitigation, Preparation, Response, and Recovery. This is the order to address emergency planning as well as infrastructure improvements as they relate to flooding, power outages, resident relocation, etc., if and when the Town choses to address our suffering residents during the yearly “100-Year” storms. Our Town Board is anxious to discuss doing something without actually implementing any improvements. Talk is cheap, isn’t it?

Mitigation is considered activities that either prevent the occurrence of an emergency and/or reduce a community’s vulnerability in ways that minimize the adverse impact of a disaster or other emergency. Most communities have done little mitigation in preparation for an upcoming weather event. This was never more apparent in Greenburgh with the onslaught we received from Hurricane Sandy. Individually, many first responders and their departments handled it well. Conversely, many of our respective Greenburgh communities were paralyzed and unable to effectively receive aid. Residents abandoned? No quite. Thankfully, The Paul never missed a beat sending out emails, especially to those offline with no power.

Consolidated Edison, our “private” public service utility was understaffed to respond to all the incidents that befell them. The operational economics constraining ConEd cause them to not have enough staff to address events the magnitude of a hurricane. How should we get past their staffing issues? The Paul knew a Citizens Committee meeting at Town Hall to “bash” ConEd wouldn’t really do anything, but it would make him seem to care. Ah, publicity. Everyone uses ConEd and no one likes paying their bill, so who wouldn’t want to “go after” the big bad utility company? Pure genius. If you insist on a quicker response from ConEd, with more workers, be prepared to pay higher rates!

The Preparation phase involves activities undertaken in advance of an emergency. Response or Normal Operational phase consists of developing and revising disaster plans and hazard analyses; writing operational mutual aid plans; cross training response personnel to wear one or more of any “hats” as dictated by the event; improving public information and communications systems; and conducting exercises (drills) to validate the planning process. Putting all of these together into an implementable plan is all well and good, but if it is never tested before an actually event, it might ultimately be worthless. As with any critique after this testing, it is imperative that the leadership recognizes and honestly evaluates performances. Simply congratulating everyone so the practice appears good on paper will be self-defeating when it comes time to engage during an event. We often see this kind of “atta-boy” backslapping at Town Board meetings, when they fall over each other, becoming a mutual admiration society. 

An increased “readiness” (pre-planning) is also critical before an incident happens. Inspections of critical facilities must be performed and categorized. Reviewing and updating emergency plans and Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines (SOP/SOGs) should be an ongoing exercise for all Town personnel - not just emergency responders. This should enable them to have increased operating knowledge, familiarity of what is expected by different roles they may be asked to perform, an ability to enhance their performance. Equally important will be their ability to critique the operation to offer a different perspective to assist in making improvements. This personnel should also be updating resource lists and becoming increasingly familiar with mobilizing resources, testing warning and communications systems, disseminating accurate, timely, emergency public information as well as recruiting additional personnel and disaster service workers from the community, such as Citizen Emergency Response Teams (C.E.R.T.).

Responding to a disaster will require actions be taken to save lives and protect property first and foremost. From there, other steps must be taken, including disseminating warnings to be issued, emergency public information to be broadcast, and other advice and action instructions to be conveyed to the public. Perhaps dispatching teams to distribute information will be all that is needed. Leaders will need to have boots on the ground surveying and evaluating the emergency situation. ABG has suggested the Town utilize neighborhood civic associations as well as the CERT members for this task. With information at hand, they will be marshaling, allocating, and positioning personnel and equipment and mobilizing necessary resources. If available, they will need to activate their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) using established guidelines. 

Evacuating the public from certain areas prone in communities that suffer may be necessary and need to be implemented in stages for large areas or restricted access areas. In low lying, flood prone areas for example, conditions may be static, necessitating no changes for those people. Or, those same conditions may change swiftly and require decisions that had been contemplated by not initiated to take effect. All personnel should be well versed in what will be required of them to assist in those actions. During Hurricane Sandy for instance, residents were evacuated to the Theodore Young Center, only to need to be evacuated from there due to storm related damage.

During the immediate emergency, emphasis must be placed on saving lives, gaining as much control of the situation as can be controlled and minimize the effects of the disaster to both the public and the responders. Once an Incident Command Post has been established, they can work in or with the EOC. Of course, sustained or long-term events/emergencies may dictate what else must be done. Providing for the care and treatment of casualties, collecting, identifying, and addressing the deceased, are part of the gruesome reality that must be planned for. During that same period, providing for the mass care with food, lodging, clean clothes, hygiene needs of displaced persons becomes a priority. During the Hurricane Sandy, the Village of Elmsford highway department distributed firewood collected from fallen trees, to residents to burn in their fireplaces. It allowed homeowners with fireplaces to heat their homes and dispose of the wood at no cost! 

Once the recovery process is underway, our people or other appropriate agencies must begin implementing health and safety measures for both the short and long term. Additionally, you must begin protecting, controlling, and allocating vital resources; restoring or activating essential facilities and systems, ensuring the enforcement of police powers in controlling the locations and finally, establishing access controls, erecting traffic barricades, etc.

We do know that with proper planning, evaluation and activation addressing everything that is going on should provide a more organized and less chaotic environment for all. Ultimately, it will assist the victims with a level of calm and security during an extremely stressful event. We don’t currently have a pre-plan for major events and hope this article helps guide our leaders in the right direction toward starting one. We can be ready for the next event. We can only hope.

Emergency Preparedness? Not In NY!

During Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast took a beating from the weather. Some of it couldn’t be avoided. Then they took a beating from the incompetence of then Mayor Ray Nagin, which exacerbated the suffering of Gulf Coast residents. When he was finished screwing up his portion of the hurricane and it was all over, shady contractors clobbered the residents again under the guise of help. Although, many good samaritans did help a lot of people. Most people were desperate to try to save whatever might be left of their homes after losing most, if not all of their possessions, automobiles and even loved ones. They grabbed at any help being offered. Still, FEMA dropped the ball with Katrina.

Government is like the stumblebum that just can’t seem to get the right footing. Several days after the hurricane had moved on, FEMA was finally able to get in to the area. One fact that many people aren’t aware of is that FEMA must be requested before they can go into any area. It’s a home-rule issue. In the case of Mayor Nagin and his city, he never requested FEMA until the Bush administration reached out to him and explained what he needed to do in order to get federal assistance. Maybe there should be a class for new mayors explaining what they need to do once they are sworn in?

Locally, we’ve witnessed tremendous failures in tandem with tremendous posturing during and in the aftermath of Hurricane’s Irene and now Sandy by our politicians at every level. Governor Cuomo just fired his emergency management commissioner for diverting resources to his home for tree removal. C’mon. A good leader takes care of his people before himself. In this case, he should have taken care of the other residents before himself. While the governor did the right thing with this episode, he’s done little else except for declaring NY a disaster area before anything even happened, providing New Yorkers future funding relief. It isn’t really relief as much as it is the ability to get low-cost loans to rebuild.

So, why then, is the Long Island area still so in need of food, electricity and general help almost two weeks afterwards? The residents of Coney Island are calling their area New York’s “Katrina”, asking, “Why isn't anyone helping us? We have no food, no power, no heat... we are Katrina.” ABG believes it’s because the state has no real emergency plan to help any of its residents.

County Executive Astorino did an interview immediately after the storm with John Gambling. He seems to do these every week. No stranger to campaigning, he typically is complaining about the HUD monitor, the dysfunctional county legislature or some other issue of little consequence to the county’s overburdened taxpayers. When Gambling asked how recovery efforts were going, Astorino said (paraphrasing), “About as good as it can be given the intensity of the storm.” Gambling asked if there was anything he could do better the next time or what if any lessons were learned this time. His response was to try to improve communications between the emergency workers in the field and the Emergency Operations Center located in Hawthorne. Huh?

The state of the art Emergency Operations Center was built in Hawthorne several years ago under the Spano administration. Many first responders have little or no interaction with this center, but many have been given tours of it and told of how every agency would have a seat at the proverbial table. By design it is for all the various leaders of the government to locate in one area, with liaisons to first responders, the press, state and federal agencies. While it looks impressive, it operates like a Friendly’s Restaurant: there are a lot of people working there, but nobody is helping you and no decisions ever seem to get made. It seems like yet another governmental feel-good boondoggle!

Speaking of first responders, the County insisted in the wake of September 11, 2001, that the first responders in Westchester needed a better radio system. The thinking at the time was all the reports from the 9-1-1 Commission was the failure of radio systems was a part of what led to such a high loss of life. Perhaps. But the County radio system operated on three basic channels. Many fire departments and fire districts operated on the own frequency, not overseen by the County and continue to do so. Then the County spent millions upon millions of dollars “improving” the radio system at 60 Control. So what did we get for all the time and money spent? A marginally different system that allows departments to operate on a localized frequency at a call. Does it help the first responders at a scene? Perhaps. Does it help residents during an emergency such as Hurricane Sandy? No. ABG believes it’s because the County has no emergency plan to help its residents.

In the Town of Greenburgh we have three paid and six volunteer fire departments. We have the Greenburgh Police Department as well as the six Village police departments. We have a county police department that really offers very little bang for the buck, save for the Bomb Squad (pun intended). We have a state police department that does very little in Westchester County and especially local communities except to patrol several highways. Both organizations are reactionary by nature and don’t typically do much until something happens. We can’t really blame them if they don’t take much preparatory action prior to a weather event. However, the paid departments all apply for Homeland Security grant money that seems to only be used to pay for overtime. The police chief worked on an emergency action plan for the Town. It may have been used to prop open a door for a resident who ran an extension cord to his neighbor for power.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency - FEMA - was closed Thursday morning, leaving hosts of individuals, families, and children without food or water. Here’s a picture taken Thursday, Nov. 8, of a FEMA Center for their Staten Island office with a sign on the door that said “FEMA Center Closed Due To Weather”. 

Unbelievable!? People are suffering for almost two weeks and FEMA takes a snow day? It’s ridiculous!

When FEMA came into Greenburgh after Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, we were told residents that received a visit received a subsequent follow-up phone call the following day asking if a FEMA adjuster or representative had visited the resident. The answer was usually yes. If the resident pushed asking when they might see a check for funds, they were told this was only a follow-up phone call to ensure a visit took place and they need to ask the adjuster, who would tell you to call their 800 phone number. The phone call was only about FEMA being able to say how they were being responsive to victims. Remember, if you didn’t go to them and apply, they weren’t coming to you!

Once a FEMA adjuster visited your home or business, you needed to produce insurance documentations, mortgage verification, utility bills/receipts and the like. Most people who were flooded were hard-pressed to produce the requested documentation. While it isn’t funny, it was a bad joke. When asked when a payment check would arrive, they were told several weeks to process the claim and if everything was correct, a few more weeks to get the check in the mail. Ultimately, it would take about three months! There were no follow-up phone calls after that. ABG believes it’s because FEMA has no emergency plan to really help its residents.

FEMA, like The Paul, doesn’t actually do anything, rather, only points you to someone else. If you ask for money, they tell you to apply to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for a low interest loan. There’s the Office of Emergency Management. Who knows what they are managing, but when people need basic services restored, OEM is nowhere to be found. That is pretty much the story to date. For all the people that have suffered from Irene, Sandy, and the recent nor'easter, they are still without essential services. All our local, county, state and federal politicians continue to claim, “We’re here for you!” or, “We’re doing everything we can.” Which is exactly what? 

Talk is cheap; recovery is expensive – life is expensive, especially in NY. The system needs a major overhaul. We can only hope.