Area stakeholders share experiences

OKANOGAN – County stakeholders whose jobs are to respond to natural and man-made emergencies gathered in the Okanogan County Commissioners’ hearing office on Wednesday, Dec. 12, to share stories and information at the bi-annual all-hazards Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meeting.

Host Maurice Goodall, manager of the Okanogan County Emergency Management office brought the key players together to get to know one another and better define “who’s who and who to reach out to” when an emergency occurs.

Okanogan County is preparing to launch its All Hazards Mitigation Plan update, so Goodall is reaching out to area communities and agencies for their cooperation and input.

Joining Goodall was Kent Catline, Washington State Emergency Management HazMat Planning Program Manager, who described his job as “assisting Emergency Managers in Central Washington State with hazardous materials issues.”

Catline explained that LEPCs, now required in every U.S. county, stem from a federal mandate that resulted from the 1984 Union Carbide-Bhopal, India, lethal gas leak and, closer to home, the 1978 Love Canal chemical dumpsite disaster in Niagara Falls, New York.

The Love Canal disaster resulted in the first approval by Congress of emergency funds used to address an environmental disaster.

The LEPC mandate, like many that originate at the state and federal level, came with no funding “so it was left with the local communities to sort it out,” said Catline, “which makes it a challenge especially for small emergency management agencies like those in most of Central Washington to make do.”

Over the years the LEPC has evolved to handle all hazards, natural as well as man-made and thereby address wildfire, floods, active shooters and similar occurrences.

Goodall reviewed the many avenues his office is taking to get county residents involved and keep them informed of both emergency and non-emergency developments. Prominent among those is the Okanogan County Alert System that provides subscribers time-sensitive advisories of hazards affecting specific home addresses or workplaces.

To subscribe to the service, visit www.okanogandem.org and click on the Alert System icon to opt-in or update your account.

Subscribers should annually update or verify account information. Other features on the site include an interactive county map and alert notifications in English and Spanish.

Text notifications issued anywhere in Okanogan County are available by texting OKCOUNTY to 888777. For notifications in Spanish text OKESP to 888777.

For advisories about a specific county city or town, text its zip code to 888777.

To terminate notifications text STOP to 888777.

Listen to recorded phone notifications by calling 509-740-0602.

Follow @okanogandem on Twitter.

OCEM also maintains a Facebook presence and can be reached by email at em@co.okanogan.wa.us or by phone at 509-422-7206.
Other speakers at the LEPC meeting included Darren Johnson of Tonasket Public Works who described the city’s response to an oil contamination spill in its wastewater system last November. Shawn Davisson, Director of Public Works for the City of Okanogan discussed the response to Salmon Creek flooding last May.