Reorganization and upgrading of equipment by the National Weather Service (NWS) now gives residents an earlier warning time to take preparedness steps to insure the safety of their lives and property. With the opening of a new NWS office at Wilmington, Ohio, and bringing on-line of the Doppler radar technology, storm images used in forecasting are much more advanced. When severe weather is approaching Scioto County, NWS will notify EMA. EMA then begins a storm tracking activation utilizing Accu-Weather Doppler Radar programs and storm tacking capabilities to monitor the approach of the storm system in the EMA offices. The EMA utilizes ground reports from a spotters network of trained individuals from the amateur radio and emergency service communities enabling real time data to be relayed to NWS from EMA and additional warning information to be provided if required by their forecasters. This enhanced ability to monitor the storm system locally permits dialing up of Doppler radar and satellite images being watched by meteorologists at NWS so that the best information available is given to local officials. Once a watch or warning for severe weather is issued, or an emergency such as a chemical spill, or any other manmade or technological event occurs requiring notifications to key individuals in the community to prepare for protecting populations or employees, EMA initiates notifications through the Emergency/Weather Alert (EWA) paging network . The EWA network provides for timeliness and efficiency for local notifications through use of alpha numeric pagers. Computer and modem software technology allows for a group page message of the latest information to go out on the system to response agency chiefs, government officials, school officials and others. The group page enables EMA to send one burst of information to several key individuals and save much needed time to update the information rather than make numerous phone calls and cramp air space on emergency radio traffic channels. When the warning is issued by NWS, a new system of warning citizens of the need for emergency actions is now in place. Federal officials have replaced the old Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) with the new Emergency Alert System (EAS) technology. This system utilizes broadcast media to disseminate information. Procedures and equipment now used have increased warning time for preparing for the emergency event. The warning of severe weather or civil activation through EMA is done through an encoder/decoder unit which triggers a tone at radio and Tv stations and then transmits the emergency public information to many receivers at once. The old EBS system was a tiered relay of sending the emergency information to a flag broadcast station who then relayed it to the second tier, then the second tier on to the third tier. The increased time for warnings is possible with the burst of information going to all stations and local sheriff offices at one time. Specific information about the approaching hazard and steps to take to prepare and protect lives and property are given. The only activations of this warning system for residents of Scioto County is the EMA Director, the Sheriff, and the National Weather Service. Another program utilized for weather events is the STORMS program- State of Ohio Rain/Snow Monitoring System. Flooding has overtaken lightning as the nation's leading killer. Flash floods are common in the hilly terrain of Southern Ohio. Created by the National Weather Service, STORMS is an integrated flood observing and warning system that collects, disseminates and analyzes real time rainfall and stream stage information to help local and state emergency management personnel combat the threat of floods. Five automatic dumping and reporting rain gauges have been installed in various watershed areas of Scioto County through funding from the Ohio legislature. These gauges work in conjunction with stream stage gauges already in place, each sending data to NWS computers by radio signal. The computer compares reported values against pre-determined flash flood thresholds and sound alarms when these levels are exceeded. A computer software package utilized in the local EMA office receives this data and is able to provide warning information to the area sooner than was capable in the past. Local EMA has an increased capacity to warn populations and deploy resources to protect property through the system. When chemical releases occur that may impact residents, EMA utilizes the CAMEO Program- Computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations, CAMEO provides plume models that can be placed as a footprint on a map of Scioto County outlining the vulnerable zone at risk for exposure to releases of various chemicals. This provides the fire chief in charge of the chemical release to know what population protection measures to advise EMA to release in emergency public information when activating the EAS system. Chemical data for response personnel are also provided to enable them to better handle the chemical involved safely, and suggests what defensive measures or mitigating actions to take to stop the release and clean up the scene of the spill. The program provides worst case scenario screening for local business and industry so they can prepare for actions they need to take to protect workers and citizens. A map display capability will show Scioto and adjoining counties all at one time permitting a plume model to show vulnerable areas that extend into adjacent counties. In addition to the chemical data base and plume modeling capabilities of CAMEO, EMA has established a county wide Hazardous Material Response Team which can respond under mutual aid request from the fire chief of jurisdictional command over the chemical spill. Seventy Five (75) firefighters have been trained to Hazardous Material Technician level for response to the scene for mitigation on actions and clean up activities. Other teams in operation through EMA include communication professionals involved with amateur radio locally. These individuals have been called into service for Scioto County numerous times over the years providing secure coded radio transmissions between focal points of response and recovery enabling local government and emergency response agencies to communicate when phone lines are down or emergency band radio towers are inoperable. Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is another new area of involvement for EMA. Response agency workers and the general public can be negatively impacted by the devastation and death that results from some events that occur. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is a concept utilized when workers or citizens have experienced events with unusual impact on their mental health. Such events in which one or more individuals is exposed to the traumatic event could include accidents involving extreme victim trauma, serious injury and even death of victims. This poses significant stress on emergency response personnel and mental health professionals charged with dealing with the crisis. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Teams comprised of professional peers and mental health counselors provide on scene support and debriefing counseling sessions following response to such events in which one or more individuals exposed to the traumatic event may need to talk through the event to defuse the short and long term negative stress response impacts that erect the professional and personal well being of the individual. The team is trained to provide such debriefings for co-workers in their respective holds as well as serving the community. Currently the EMA office is working with the National Weather Service at Wilmington and Ohio Emergency Management Agency in bringing online a NOAA Weather Radio Transmitter site in Scioto County providing 24-hour weather information. The tentative time of acquiring tower space and purchasing the NWS radio transmitter is Spring 1998. A speaker bureau program is available through the EMA office for area groups and organizations. Topics include how to prepare for emergencies and severe weather; safety measures to take during weather and other emergency events; writing emergency plans for business, industry and schools to a wide range of current issues such as terrorism. Presentation level of difficulty is adjusted for each audience whether it be school age children, professionals or general interest. Each program utilized assist EMA in making decisions about a life threatening event during a short period of time in a crisis. The more tools available to enable those decisions to be made, the better able EMA is to save lives and reduce local damages.
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