Committee plans for dry conditions, local emergencies

The Local Emergency Planning Committee met April 23 to discuss potential emergencies facing Hot Springs County.

One of the more immediate concerns is the potential for large-scale fires in the coming spring and summer months.

Coming off relatively dry March and April months, the spread of forest fires could be rapid.

“We’re looking at quite the wildfire season,” chairman James Coates said.

Part of the unraveling concern this year comes from the fact that the number of fire spotters has decreased significantly.

“Between the Rocky Mountain Region and the Northern Rockies region we have four analysts where we used to have 15,” fire chief Mark Collins said.

Collins also said the chances of a large fire will increase after Memorial Day when there starts to be an increased human factor with more people spending time outdoors.

Yet, there are some technological advancements that may make up for the decreased number of analysts.

Other local fire and emergency agencies have equipment that can pinpoint potential location of forest fires based on their satellite imaging capabilities.

This means that if there is a dry lightning strike somewhere, local firefighters will be able to find out quickly where the exact location of the strike happened.

Additionally, Collins said new fire fighting planes are precise enough to put down fire retardants so precisely that wildfires can be stalled long enough to get fire engines on the ground near the fires.

Collins said he can also access information about every fire taking place in real time, with updates every four to six hours.

This information is gained by using an inter agency website that collects and shares data between local and state agencies.

The committee also discussed planning for emergencies caused by an accident on the train tracks.

Coates said he had invited representatives from buildings along the train track line to attend the meeting, along with a representative from Burlington Northern Santa Fe, but almost no one from those places showed up.

“It’s hard to have a conversation about these problems on the rails when the people involved don’t show up,” Coates said.

Also, Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon said the information storage system software for all emergency situations is being updated. The new system will allow for a more fluid system.

“If a local official changes then we only have to change their information once,” Gordon said.

The next meeting will be Thursday, July 23 at 9 a.m.

The time was changed in the hope more people will attend a morning meeting rather than a night meeting.