POLICE CHIEF DESCRIBES EMERGENCY STORM RESPONSE

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

When cut off from the outside by a windstorm or widespread emergency – natural or manmade – West End residents need to rely more on themselves and their community than outside help.

That’s the message Forks Police Chief Mike Powell delivered to the Jan. 9 meeting of the Forks Chamber of Commerce.
Forks Mayor Nedra Reed seconded Powell at the meeting, and told of a “disconnect” in communicating with Clallam County, and a lack of immediate response and other communications problems with the county’s emergency center in Port Angeles during and following the windstorm of Dec. 2-3.

She said too narrow of a list of sources were used to provide Forks with updates on recovery from the storm.

“We pay our taxes and what do we get,” Reed said of the issue.

She said several years ago a call to the emergency center in Port Angeles resulted in connecting to a recorded message, with no one to contact live. A call was then made directly to the state’s emergency management center in Olympia to get aid.

Powell said the city government learned some lessons during the response to the windstorm. One was to provide disaster updates on the hour over local radio stations, rather than give random reports, and to offer a report even if there was no new news.

He told of a mix of ways telephone lines were working during and following the storm, with some calling card systems working as a means to reach outside lines.

The meeting drew over three dozen members and guests, and was the first of the year for the chamber, and the first at a new location for the meetings, JT’s Sweet Stuffs.

Powell told the audience to imagine being at home when an earthquake struck. Would framed photos and dishes come crashing down? Would you have an emergency kit secured under a bed containing boots, gloves, a flashlight with fresh batteries to be able to move about your damaged home? Would you have at least a 72-hour supply of food, maybe a 21-day supply as the American Red Cross advises?

Powell said in the event of a widespread emergency the National Guard would first focus on getting state government back on its feet in Olympia. This would allow the overall disaster to be addressed and recovery run through the proper agencies.
“We’ve got to start here,” Powell said, “we’ve got to help each other.”

The police chief also portrayed what a tsunami would do to Forks and surrounding areas. He foresaw extensive damage in low-lying areas of the network of rivers that fork through Forks. He said bridges in Forks would be OK, while those in lower areas, like Three Rivers, may be put out of commission.

There have been big improvements in the availability of emergency shelters in Forks, he said, with the Department of Natural Resources offering the use of a building near Tillicum Park, and the completion of the new Forks Community Center, which was recently used as a disaster relief center by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.