County joins effort to create regional disaster center

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - Stoddard County is one of 10 counties in Southeast Missouri working to create a regional center to help emergency management officials to respond to major events such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and other disasters.

Stoddard County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Kent Polsgrove and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Area Coordinator Mark Winkler presented the plan to the County Commission and it was approved in January. The county joins Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Iron, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley and Scott Counties in passing the plan which promotes the formation and use of a multi-agency coordination center. The regional plan is being encouraged by SEMA.

Polsgrove said he was asked to participate in forming the plan. He said much of the plan is like the county plan, though the regional plan would provide for a centralized distribution center.

He said the cooperative efforts of the counties in the region would make getting needed supplies and equipment to where they were needed more efficient.

During the 2011 flood, a Sikeston, Mo.-based coordination center managed the flow of resources into the region. A hydrologist analyzed data on rainfall and its effect on already full waterways. Emergency management officials better knew what was coming, and what they needed to do, said Drew Juden, director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, who helped coordinate the center.

State agencies for emergency, transportation, health and natural resources communicated quickly and freely with local officials about what resources were needed where, and when.

The effort worked to respond to the public's needs faster than before, further pushing plans for centers to operate again when needed, and encouraging the state emergency management agency to keep forming regional disaster plans annually across the state.

Polsgrove said this was not available when the ice storm hit the area in 2009.

He said many of the problems arose from individual cities and communities not communicating with each other.

Juden said the regional disaster plans' inclusion of the centers creates a "go-to place that knows each [county emergency manager] individually and can vet their requests, and fight for their requests at the state level," when an area is faced with a disaster.

"Most of the emergency managers in Southeast Missouri are not full-time positions, and there's almost none of them have a staff," Juden said. "So when these big disasters happen, they don't have the resources at their fingertips to say 'OK, I want you to go back, and I'm going to call you, and tell you everything I need from out here, from bulldozers to sandbags, to you name it.' That's the goal, if you will, of the multi-agency coordination center."

Juden said the use of the center model during disaster also has boosted the relationship quality between agencies, therefore strengthening the region's emergency response capabilities.

Winkler said SEMA area coordinators were encouraged to promote the use of regional disaster plans that include area coordination centers. The setup has proved effective in the SEMA region that covers the Springfield, Mo., even before historic flooding in Southeast Missouri.

Plans cover communications, emergency management, mass care, public information and a standard operating guide for setting up a coordination center.

Winkler said the plan is designed to provide an "umbrella" for operating a regional response.

Winkler expects the remaining counties - Madison, Mississippi and Wayne - to sign on as soon as officials in those counties can review the plan.

Polsgrove said he was meeting with law enforcement, emergency responders and the commission in determining if Stoddard County could serve as a regional center in the event it is needed. He said the big concern is communications, which means enough phone lines and Internet service to handle a regional center. He said Sikeston has a perfect new facility, but if it was damaged by a disaster, another location may be needed. He said the Stoddard County Ambulance District (SCAD) board room was used as the county command center during the flood, and it worked well. He said he was working with Dexter Police Chief Sammy Stone, Sheriff Carl Hefner, SCAD Manager Dave Cooper and E911 Administrator Carol Moreland in assessing if the county had the ability to serve as a multi-agency coordination center.

"We aren't trying to take any control away from the locals. We are just trying to form a team that can assist them to realize what resources and personnel we have within the region, and help disperse those within the region, or if we don't have that, to be a link between the locals," Winkler said.

SEMA also coordinates an annual event at which local emergency management and first responder agencies use a mock scenario to test the effectiveness of the disaster plan. Workshops held throughout the year help prepare agencies to respond to the scenario.

Officials will meet March 25 in Sikeston as part of the training for this year's event, according to Winkler. The scenario, scheduled for October, will play out as if the region is battling a mass illness pandemic. The coordination center for the event will be based in Cape Girardeau.

Last year's mock disaster scenario was a terrorist attack on the power grid. For that event, the coordination center was set up at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

(Southeast Missourian writer Erin Ragan contributed to this article.)