When it comes to emergency preparedness, Linn county residents would do well to heed the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared!” says Jim Howell, emergency management coordinator for the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
Howell, in his eighth year in the post, says his interest in emergency management began as a cadet with the civil air patrol in 1957.
“Sheriff Burright is actually the county’s emergency program coordinator and I am his emergency management deputy,” Howell said.
He is charged with putting together the county’s emergency operations plan, making sure there are places to manage during a disaster and operation under an incident command system.
“This used to be called civil defense,” Howell said.
Management planning has gone from the days of the Cold War, preparing in the event of a nuclear attack, to post ware hazards such as weapons, natural disasters such as landslides and volcanoes, dam failures and hazardous materials incidents.
Howell said there are four main phases to emergency management:
– Hazard mitigation
– Preparation including planning and training exercises
– Response
– Recovery
“These are cyclic and often overlapping,” Howell said.
The public gets the most “bang for the buck” out of hazards mitigation, Howell said.
His advice to Sweet Home residents is to store up supplies such as food and clean water in the event of a natural disaster.
“People think clean water comes from the tap in their kitchen sink,” Howell said. “If a disaster happens and the water plant is destroyed, what then?”
Howell said it is difficult for many persons to lay aside the basic day-to-day demands on their time to think about emergency preparedness.
He said, for example, if the Hills Creek dam were to burst, the entire communities of Springfield and Eugene would be flooded, Harrisburg and even Halsey would be impacted. The inflow of water into the Willamette River would have an impact all the way to Oregon City.
“People think of the dams and possible problems, but the truth is, only about 20% of the water flow in the Willamette Valley is controlled by dams,” Howell said.
What is the biggest and most probably natural disaster that could strike the Valley?
Howell said it would be a “subduction earthquake” in which the plates of the earth, slowly moving, hang up and then break loose.
“We could see an earthquake reach an 8 or up to 9 1/2 on the Richter scale.
“We’re actually subject to an earthquake of up to 6.0 anywhere in Oregon,” Howell said.
Linn county emergency teams–police departments, sheriff’s office, fire departments, EMTs–all work very well together.
“We have memorandums of understanding with the agencies and we’re very fortunate that no one is turf protective about this. We just want to do the best job when it’s needed,” Howell said.
Although the Cold War is over, Howell said the public should not take lightly the possibility of terrorism, even in rural areas.
Community preparedness can start with neighborhood emergency training teams such as extensions of the neighborhood watch programs.
With his office based right in the LCSO office, Howell said Linn county can “ramp up” very quickly in terms of a disaster.
“Dispatchers in Oregon are very well trained and in fact, are required to have extra training in terms of disasters,” Howell said.
Another important factor in Linn county’s preparedness plan are HAM radio operators.
“They provide a very valuable service, especially during disasters, by relaying information,” Howell said.
Persons interested in developing an emergency management neighborhood team can contact Howell at Linn County Emergency Management, 1115 Jackson Street SE, Albany, Oregon 97327 or call him at 1-541-967-3954.
An eight page disaster preparedness tabloid was recently distributed throughout Linn county. Extra copies of that information will be available at The New Era at no charge.