Since June 5, when a tornado destroyed much of downtown Elmwood, Washington Chief of Police Jim Kuchenbecker said he has been asked a question several times: What if we were Elmwood?
That Saturday night was a close call for Washington. About 40 miles east of Elmwood, a different tornado touched down on the west side of town before traveling north to Germantown Hills and Metamora.
The destruction in Elmwood and the tornado in Washington raised the question of what would happen and how would it be handled if Washington was hit by a tornado.
In fact, the Washington public safety committee is currently reviewing an emergency operations plan, which, Kuchenbecker said, will be refined and will go to the city council for approval sometime in the next few months.
The plan, put together by Kuchenbecker and retired Washington paramedic, James Bender, has been in the works since early 2006 after Washington Mayor Gary Manier put the Emergency Services Disaster Agency under the jurisdiction of the police department in July 2005.
“When I came here in 2004, my assumption was they had some sort of disaster plan in place. But there was actually nothing,” Kuchenbecker said. “ESDA consisted of mainly storm spotters.”
Kuchenbecker also realized the city did not have a resolution adopting the National Incident Management System and would consequently not be eligible for federal aid in the event of an emergency. At his insistence, a NIMS resolution was adopted in October 2004.
The core of the disaster plan currently under review establishes a post-incident approach for the safety and security of Washington residents.
“In the event of a disaster like Elmwood, we would immediately institute the unified command structure, which is a statewide, nationally known structure for command and control of a critical incident. We would be working with the fire chief and department, with other local law enforcement agencies, public works and the city finance department. All the people would have a stake because they would all have to be in the EOC, the Emergency Operation Center at the fire department.
“This structure allows us to evaluate the situation and determine if we need to have the mayor declare this a disaster.”
A key to this structure is the coordination of department heads from agencies that make up the Washington Crisis Management Team. This team includes the city administrator, the police department, the fire and rescue department, planning and development director, public services director, the city engineer, the controller, Washington township schools and the park district.
