WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

WOOD Radio Local News

 

Countywide chemical emergency exercise to take place Friday in Ottawa

OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. -- Ottawa County Emergency Management and the Local Emergency Planning Committee will conduct a countywide Chemical Emergency Exercise on Friday at noon.

It will be in conjunction with the county's final outdoor warning siren test of the year. They are done annually on the first Friday of the month, from April through October.

Lou Hunt is director of the Ottawa County Emergency Management unit. He tells WOOD Radio there will be a countywide shelter in place.

"On the last (test), we like to position to all of our citizens that the outdoor warning sirens aren't just for tornadoes. I think a lot of people think that way. They're actually an all-hazards warning device. And we could use them in a HazMat release, where there's that nasty plume on its way. And we want to warn people to go inside, seek more information," Hunt said.

Here is more information from an Ottawa Emergency Management news release:

The purpose of this exercise is the following:

• Educate our citizens to properly associate outdoor warning sirens as “All Hazard” warning devices, instead of just “Tornado Sirens”

• Reinforce the behavior of “if you hear the sirens, go inside and seek more information” (during a chemical emergency, more information will be shared to area cell phones, similar to “amber alerts”)

• Educate our citizens and give them an opportunity to practice how to shelter in place for a chemical emergency

• Develop an overall capability in Ottawa County to shelter in place for chemical emergency.

The issue is that in our technological society, we have many chemicals that are manufactured in Ottawa County, used in Ottawa County (such as anhydrous ammonia in our agricultural industry and refrigeration for food producers), and chemicals traveling through Ottawa County via rail or road. There is always the potential for accidental release, and knowing how to shelter in place can be critical

Our target audience for this exercise is Ottawa County schools, businesses (including Ottawa County buildings) and citizens. We have developed a significant amount of educational material including quick reference guides and even tutorial videos, that can be found on the MiOttawa website at Shelter in Place - Ottawa County, Michigan (miottawa.org); these are available to all and we highly recommend accessing them. We are advertising this exercise through many avenues, including gov delivery, social media, media interviews and other strategies.

What is being asked:

When the sirens sound on Friday 10/4 at 12noon, we ideally would like persons/businesses to go indoors, shut down all air-handling units (AC, heat, fans, etc) and close and lock doors (or at least develop a plan on how to do so during emergency). The goal is to keep separate the contaminated outside air from the clean inside air, and wait until the chemical has dissipated or passed by with the wind. The level of participation throughout our county will certainly vary. For citizens, those who are aware of the exercise may go inside, close and lock doors and windows (that gives a stronger seal from drafts), shut off fans/furnaces/air conditioners, and even consider taping door/window jams to seal drafts. Some citizens may simply consider how they might do those things and have a personal plan that they are comfortable with. Some businesses may only have their facilities staff simulate during the exercise by identifying how to shut down sometimes complicated HVAC systems, and some may actually shut down and then bring those systems back up. Some businesses may also include general staff to stay indoors momentarily and secure doors and windows. Some businesses may engage their staff by sharing with them the location of the reference material we have on the MiOttawa website and explaining that this exercise is occurring. In this same website location, we also have a survey to gather feedback from anyone who participates in the exercise, and we will use that information to further improve for next year’s exercise. We intend to do this exercise yearly, with the last outdoor warning siren test of each year on the first Friday in October.

We appreciate your time with this and we hope that with yearly repetition, we will develop a Shelter in Place for a Chemical Emergency capability in Ottawa County.

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