Officials use funding to anticipate next disaster

Rick Metcalf of the McCook Fire Department and Diane Wilkinson of Red Willow County Emergency Management look over some of the new radio equipment distributed Wednesday. (Bruce Crosby/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

Disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the September 11, 2001 attacks are helping boost preparedness throughout the county and Southwest Nebraska, judging from a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the Red Willow County Sheriff's Office.

Gene Mahon, sheriff and Red Willow County emergency management co-director, distributed more than $40,000 worth of radios, chargers, pagers and other equipment to agencies like Community Hospital, the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department hazardous materials team, and the Indianola, Beaver Valley, McCook and Bartley fire departments.

Since, 2003, Mahon said, county emergency co-manager Diane Wilkinson has written grants that have brought in some $539,346.96 in federal grants toward expenses such as exercise and training, repeaters, radios, generators, lights and rescue equipment.

This year, the Red Willow County Emergency Management Agency is asking for $891,660 in grants for equipment.

Among the major equipment already purchased is a device to detect numerous types of chemicals, and radio equipment that will go on McCook Public Power District's new communications tower to enable Red Willow County to serve as a Central Nebraska Region for Interoperability hub.

The equipment will link emergency responders throughout seven Southwest Nebraska counties, enabling them to communicate to one another despite differences in their radio equipment.

The first CRNI was established in Kearney, and the second in McCook, making this region one of the innovators in the statewide communications plan, which is a response to difficulties firefighters and others had communicating after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Mobile command center

A 30-foot trailer originally purchased for emergency housing in response to Hurricane Katrina has been purchased from the Federal Emergency Management Agency by three local agencies to be converted into a mobile command and communications center for Southwest Nebraska.

The trailer, fully self-contained and practically brand new, was purchased by the McCook Police Department and McCook Fire Department, along with the Red Willow County Emergency Management Agency.

It cost $2,500 plus $1,300 to transport it from Hope, Ark., to Lincoln. Officials went to Lincoln and brought it home to McCook on June 14. Each agency will pay a third of the $3,800 cost.

Officials note that many of the trailers were either never used or were used very little, and are bringing anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 on the Internet.

The trailer will be used in cases of disaster, or major events that may require a mobile command post in a remote area, or assistance with communcations between entities in Southwest Nebraska.

The trailer will be revamped on the inside, with the sleeping quarters taken out to allow more room for command and communications equipment.

Red Willow County is applying for several thousand dollars in grant funding from Homeland Security for communication equipment to be installed inside the trailer.

The trailer, dubbed the Incident Commmand and Communciation Unit, will be on display at the Red Willow County Fair, June 25-29.

"The trailer will provide the entire region as a vital tool to enhance the ability to manage major incidents or disasters," Sheriff Gene Mahon said in a release. "The purchase of this trailer would not have been possible without the cooperation, grant funding and communication that exists between the agencies involved," he said.