Agencies get disaster gear they might not want

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, March 27, 2002

Emergency response organizations throughout Island County are slated to receive about $165,000 worth of new equipment, courtesy of a federal grant from the Department of Justice.

Unfortunately, not much of the equipment may be of any use to county law enforcement agencies or fire districts.

Most of the equipment, which includes such items as boots, gloves, respirators and hazardous material suits, will be parceled out to law enforcement agencies, fire departments and EMS professionals working at both the city and county level, said T.J. Harmon, the county’s emergency services deputy director last week.

“We’re going to be meeting next Tuesday to determine how the county responders might choose to use that equipment,” Harmon said last week.

She said perhaps the most important part of the package are four positive pressure respirators, which allow emergency personnel to test the level of oxygen in the air of a burning structure.

This week, however, Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley said the county could have better used cash from the feds instead of what he sees as federal cast offs.

“We’ve been regifted,” he said. “I looked at that stuff and just shook my head. It’s a waste of taxpayer money.”

Hawley said items, such as 270 chemical hazard response suits, have no place in his organization, which has no response team and does not have the personnel to field one.

Paul Busch, the assistant chief for Fire District 3, said the suits could be of some use in his organization a few years down the road, especially if the hazardous materials team NAS Whidbey funds gets too busy with work on North Whidbey. However, Busch said, he can’t imagine doing anything with the federal equipment donation.

The grant — which was applied for through the state’s Committee on Terrorism — was announced at last week’s meeting of the Island County Disaster Council, a multi-agency work group that meets informally to coordinate emergency training efforts and share information.

“All of the representatives or decision makers on the council have the opportunity to sit down and discuss issues of concern related to emergency systems in the county,” Harmon said. “We have people who come from community groups, the Red Cross, city and county departments, fire districts, Whidbey General Hospital.”

“This allows us not only to become better familiar with how people run their organizations, where they fit into the picture of emergency systems, but also to share resources and grant ideas. We have a good representation between all different types of disciplines.”

The council, which has been meeting regularly since 1998, usually focuses on a key topic each month, such as long-term training issues of, more recently, the local threat of anthrax and terrorism preparedness after the attacks of Sept. 11. Harmon said that the teamwork of the council largely is responsible for the coordinated, county-wide responses to such major events as the Nisqually Earthquake in February 2001.

“I’m really proud of the disaster council,” Harmon said. “Their work has made a big difference.”