Immediate Release
March 18, 2010
Batavia, Ohio. Imagine a train going off its tracks after hitting a truck, and one of the tanker cars spewing a large chlorine cloud into the air. Then, add snow, ice, and hazardous temperatures to the formula while emergency responders try to evacuate people living in the area, establish warming centers, set-up roadblocks and evacuation routes out of the collision site. For six hours on Thursday (March 18, 2010) 55 individuals representing Clermont County fire, law enforcement, emergency services, the Red Cross, and many others gathered at the Clermont County Jail to take part in a functional exercise designed to better protect our community. Clermont was among 16 Ohio counties participating in a statewide test of emergency response procedures.
“We are mandated by the state and the Local Emergency Planning Commission to hold these types of hypothetical training situations,” said Clermont Emergency Management Agency Director Beth Nevel. “The end result is better emergency response for our citizens, should a true disaster occur. We have evaluators monitoring our efforts; we will use that information to help us do a better job in the future.”
Goshen Township Fire Chief Steve Pegram served as the unified incident commander for the scene. “I’ve only been on the job locally for 5 months, so this type of interaction with surrounding agencies is a great opportunity,” he said. “I think as a result of this type of exercise, we will all be better prepared when something big happens.”
Assistant Hamilton County Health Commissioner Kathy Lordo, who served as an evaluator for the exercise, agrees that human interaction is very important in emergency management. “Even though you have Web-based programs to exchange information, people to people interaction is still very important to get the word out about the situation in a timely matter. I think today’s exercise proved that. It went very well.”
Pictured above: Goshen Township Fire Chief Steve Pegram points out some new information to Goshen Township Assistant Chief Doug Engled at the March 18, 2010 training exercise.
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For additional information about this or other county news, contact Clermont County Communications Director Kathryn Lehr at (513) 732-7597 or by e-mail, klehr@co.clermont.oh.us.