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Emergency Management Update
Continuing PKA’s 2009 study of Evacuation Re-Entry policies for Perdido
Key, we invited Mr. John Dosh, the Emergency Manager, Escambia County
Office of Emergency Management to speak at our October 14 board meeting.
At the meeting Mr. Dosh cautioned us not to let our guard down, that
Hurricane season was not over yet. We all laughed. Then Hurricane Ida
swept quickly into the Gulf of Mexico not 3 weeks later. What a
surprise, and an important lesson.
Thankfully, Hurricane Ida lost strength and blew through Perdido Key
pretty quickly without major damage, but we all know it can be very
different. Destin had serious beach erosion which undermined buildings.
The new Gulf Shores fishing pier is closed for three weeks for repairs
due to high surf. We were lucky this time.
As discussed earlier this year when the PKA board met with Sheriff
Morgan, our objective for doing this study is to encourage the local
decision makers to have an effective evacuation re-entry program in
place for Perdido Key and clearly communicate it to the public. The
board felt it was important that the agencies involved evacuation
policies on Perdido Key get to know property owners face to face, in a
calm setting, before there is an emergency. No one ever wants to go
through the debacle of Hurricane Ivan ever again.
Mr. Dosh has been with Escambia County for 15 years. He became head of
Emergency Management when Janet Kilgore retired two years ago. He has
acted as a first responder at every major hurricane location in Florida
including Andrew and was on the ground in New Orleans following Katrina.
Mr. Dosh knows better than anyone, what can happen to a coastal county.
He “hopes for the best, but always plans for the worst.” While we tend
to focus on the threat of hurricanes, his division also plans and
responds to all other types of public safety emergencies.
The PKA Board was candid with Mr. Dosh about what policies worked in the
past and what created problems. Mr. Dosh acknowledged that the
communication both within the emergency management agencies and with the
residents was poor during Hurricane Ivan. He told us that they have made
a great many changes. He assured us that it is now a priority with all
county agencies to cooperate in order to provide clear communication to
the public. The PKA questioned in depth the chain of command in the
event of a declaration of a Countywide State of Emergency. We wanted to
know who is responsible for what and when. Mr. Dosh provided the
following information:
The Board of County Commissioners votes to declare a State of Emergency.
The County Administrator is then named the Incident Commander. He is now
in charge. The Incident Command Center is the Emergency Operations
Center on W Street in Pensacola. The EOC building was specially designed
as a disaster shelter that will withstand 200 mph winds and is equipped
with redundant systems of state of the art computer back up and
communications equipment.
Emergency management representatives from Federal, State and County
first responders needed to address transportation, law enforcement,
access to recovery supplies, utilities, medical needs, and military
liaisons staff the EOC around the clock while the State of Emergency is
in effect. Mr. Dosh explained the reasoning behind assembling all of
these people in one place is whatever emergency arises; they try to have
the ability to immediately make contact with the personnel necessary to
address it. Citizens have a central location to report issues to and
information being distributed to the public can come out of a central
location.
The PKA board was provided with many resources for learning about storm
preparation, building homes with wind-resistant features, and important
contact information in the event of any emergency. We have posted much
of this information here on the PKA Website as well as
links to sources
for related information.
With proper planning and public education, there will be no reason why
property owners out of town or evacuee cannot get good clear information
regarding access and recovery plans. The server for the PKA website is
located out of state. In the event of a local emergency it will not be
impacted. Our website gallery is available as a place to post photos in
the event of an emergency. PKA is committed to educating our membership
so in the event our community faces a future emergency situation, they
will know exactly where and how to get the accurate information.
Hurricane
Preparedness - Escambia Dept of Public Safety
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