By Melinda Rizzo
Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
TRUMBAUERSVILLE, Pa. — Trumbauersville officials had to deal with an emergency last week: sub-zero temperatures, freezing rain and sleet, a fire and explosion, fuel and natural gas leaks, traffic congestion and an unconscious tanker-truck driver.
The “crisis” — actually an emergency management drill — brought together borough employees, council members, the mayor, state police representatives and St. Luke’s Hospital Quakertown emergency response team members to test their preparedness.
The damage-control session was led by representatives from the Bucks County Emergency Management Agency in Doylestown.
The Trumbauersville core group of about a dozen members discovered their strengths and weaknesses should a major catastrophe happen.
“We need radio communications. We need to have access to relief shelters and know in advance we can get into them. We need to get a generator,” said Edward Child, borough council president.
But Child said having the drill also was a way to see how much the upper Bucks County borough already had going for it.
“We have an emergency plan,” Child said. “We know our neighboring municipalities and we have support from fire companies. We know who we can call for help.”
Bucks Emergency Management Agency representative Harry Crohe said he drove around Trumbauersville nearly a month ago to scout the area so he could come up with a realistic emergency situation.
“These sessions are for team building and to show you all how quickly things can escalate,” Crohe said.
Crohe’s scenario began with the bad weather and explosion then got nasty.
“You don’t think it can get worse. Trust me, it gets worse,” Crohe said.
The fictitious fire spread to adjacent buildings — a bar, with 16 people trapped inside, and two nearby homes. Then the tornadoes hit.
“Is this likely? Probably not. Could it happen? You bet it could,” Crohe said.
The team brainstormed how it would contact first responders, where headquarters would be located, and what steps would be taken to defuse the situation.
Across the county’s 54 municipalities, local officials are taking on emergency exercises, tabletop drills and field tests to check readiness skills and see where the kinks are in support lifelines to residents.
“All municipalities must have an emergency services coordinator, and they must have an emergency plan in place,” said John Dougherty, director of emergency services for Bucks.
Bucks County activated its Emergency Operations Center in Ivyland on Thursday as part of a statewide weather emergency preparedness exercise.
County emergency response officials simulated a crisis in which flooding and three tornadoes hit Bristol, Doylestown and Warrington townships. Local hospitals and schools participated in the simulation.