Rollinsford looks to be prepared

ROLLINSFORD — The process of defining a plan to deal with future disasters continued Monday as Rollinsford’s updated emergency operations plan nears completion.

The town received a grant and contracted with Hubbard Consultants to assist with the process of updating the Emergency Operations Plan.

Involved in the review are representatives from the police, fire, highway, water and sewer departments along with the schools and select board. Rollinsford Police Chief Robert Ducharme is the town's emergency management director.

At Monday’s meeting, the group looked at detailed documents, called annexes, dealing with the Emergency Operations Center guidelines and checklists, shelter operations, and hazard-specific incidents.

In the annex that deals with hazard-specific incidents, consultant Jane Hubbard included items from the more likely hazards such as a multiple-vehicle accident, flooding, or an ice storm, to the less likely but possible hazard of an earthquake or tornado.

Ducharme asked for an additional hazard of a possible train derailment to be included. He said with significant rail traffic in the town a passenger train derailment is a risk.

“Perhaps we could we get a number of communities together and have a training day,” suggested Ducharme. “We have a substantial siding (section of track that could be isolated) we could use. It would be excellent to have that kind of training.”

The group has been meeting for a few months and has gone through the steps of identifying the community profile, where things such as the emergency operations center and shelters are located, and identifying which individual or organization would take the lead and which would provide support in 15 areas called “Emergency Support Functions,” including transportation and public information.

The group also talked about the importance of being able to continue basic government functions. Hubbard said there needs to be a succession plan should anything happen where the current Select Board members could not function in those roles, or if the files and documents were lost.

The Emergency Operations Plan goes hand-in-hand with the town’s hazard mitigation plan, which was updated in 2016. Ducharme said the key difference is the timing; the mitigation is done before the disaster to protect town assets, life and property and try to lesson damage and cleanup or repair.

Among the highest concerns in hazard mitigation are dam failures/flooding and hazardous materials.

In recent years, the Emergency Operations Center, which is in the police station located in the Town Hall basement, was opened for the Halloween snowstorm in 2011 and during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 when flooding occurred along the river.

Ducharme and Hubbard also talked about tabletop exercises that the town could use to aid in preparedness and ‘test’ the plan.

A tabletop exercise is a drill that is conducted in a conference room setting, not out in the field.

The final step in the process is for the plan to be presented to the Select Board for which no date has been set.