How does the city of Bee Cave prepare for emergencies, from flooding to tornadoes, hazardous materials incidents or the current situation we face? It all starts with planning.
Each city or county is required to have an emergency operations plan in place, approved by the governing board of that entity. Bee Cave, as with many other small cities, adopts the plan prepared by the county. Bee Cave is part of the emergency operations plan for Travis County. In addition, we have agreements in place with Lakeway, West Lake Hills and Sunset Valley Police Departments to aid when requested and officers are available.
A jurisdiction’s emergency operations plan is a document that assigns responsibility to organizations and individuals for carrying out specific actions at projected times and places in an emergency that exceeds the capability or routine responsibility of any one agency. For example, a motor vehicle accident involving hazardous materials spilling into a creek or river and shutting down a major transportation route. An incident like this in Bee Cave would quickly overwhelm the ability of our department to respond. Assistance would be requested and provided from other law enforcement agencies and from agencies equipped to deal with hazardous materials spills and environmental agencies from various levels of government.
Additionally, an emergency operations plan sets forth lines of authority and organizational relationships and shows how all actions will be coordinated. Identifying ahead of time how people and property will be protected, identifying personnel, equipment, facilities, supplies, and other resources available within the jurisdiction or by agreement with other jurisdictions for use during response and recovery operations.
Governments can discharge their emergency management responsibilities by taking four interrelated actions: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, with the overall goal to minimize the impact caused by an emergency in the jurisdiction.
Mitigation actions involve often permanent actions to reduce exposure or the hazard. Building codes to prevent building in a flood zone, as an example. Fire codes to require a sprinkler system in a building. Education of the public can also be mitigation.
Preparedness involves establishing authorities and responsibilities for emergency actions, to include procuring equipment needed to respond and assigning someone to manage and update the plan and responses. A key element of preparedness is the development of plans that link the many aspects of a jurisdiction’s commitment to emergency management.
Response to an emergency is obvious. From a police department responsibility our primary responsibility is to save lives and stabilize the situation. In large scale emergencies, response actions include notifying emergency management personnel, warning and evacuating or sheltering the population if possible, keeping the population informed.
Recovery is the effort to restore infrastructure and the social and economic life of a community to normal and may continue for years. Recovery should incorporate mitigation to prevent a recurrence or at a minimum the remediation of any future emergency.
On a personal level, growing up in McAllen, I remember Hurricane Beulah in 1967 as a child. We had large trees blow over in our front yard, and my extended family hunkered down in our home to ride out the storm. A few days later, my father and I went with other volunteers to fill up sandbags for flood protection as much of south McAllen was underwater.
In October 2018, my home in Kingsland was flooded with three feet of water as the Llano River caused Lake LBJ to reach record levels. Although I was at work, my wife was inside the house during the flood and thankfully made it to safety, along with Texas, golden retriever. The public safety agencies in Burnet County responded, and their emergency operations center was activated.
My first police experience with emergency operations, other than a drill, came in 1980 during Hurricane Allen as a McAllen police officer. About 12 hours before the storm came ashore near Brownsville, every officer was called to work, and we split into two 12-hour shifts. We patrolled the streets until it was determined too dangerous; then we waited it out in the police station. Of course, some of the criminal element used that as an opportunity to burglarize stores, but property loss in a hurricane is expected.
We survived Hurricane Allen because we had an emergency operations plan for the city in place. The Fire Department had their roles and responsibilities, as did the Police Department and public works and emergency medical services. Shelters were established ahead of time, and volunteers trained to work those shelters. And we knew what state agency to call when we had exhausted all our resources.
Responding to emergency situations is a daily occurrence in public safety. Although a pandemic caused by a new virus is far from a routine response, having an emergency operations plan in place, reviewing and updating that plan, and holding tabletop or live scenario-based drills help to maintain the preparedness level for all agencies who respond during an emergency. And further protects the public.
Please listen and follow the orders from your elected officials during this time, and we will limit the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic and soon return Bee Cave to the place we call home.
Gary Miller is the Bee Cave police chief.
Credit: Source link
