Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin took some time during the CBREPC meeting Wednesday morning to praise MEMA's help in the Spruces Mobile Home Park.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin could only do so much in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene three years ago that destroyed the Spruces Mobile Home Park. 

 

Now in the final phase of picking up the pieces, he is thanking the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency for helping in each step.

 

"MEMA's been great all the way through this project. It's been like clockwork with MEMA," Fohlin told the Central Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee on Wednesday. 

 

Fohlin says from the day the storm hit on Aug. 28, 2011, until now, MEMA has seen the project through. The park had gone from 225 homes down to 65 because of flooding. Occupants scattered and multiple groups worked to provide housing.

 

MEMA's local director Bruce Augusti, also a member of the emergency planning group, worked with Fohlin in reeling in a $6.1 million FEMA grant for hazard mitigation that has allowed the town to acquire the land and close the park. With the grant, the town has been trying to find the owners of some 165 trailers to purchase and crush the units. 

 

Fohlin said the grant is paying between $6,000 to $26,000 for mobile homes but can only resell them for $500. Meanwhile, through all the MEMA and FEMA programs, each individual is receiving an average of $20,000 total.

 

"In some cases, people are ending up in a much better circumstance," Fohlin said.

 

Now, there are only 25 or so households that will stay through the winter as town officials finally see an end to picking up those pieces. Fohlin said that while it is sad that a community is being broken up, it has been "satisfying" to see many residents relocated into better and safer circumstances. He credits much of that to MEMA.

 

Fohlin shared his compliments with MEMA and the rest of the emergency planners after the group had taken the summer off. They returned to holding monthly sessions on Wednesday and will be filing for re-certification in October. The group is comprised of local fire, police and emergency medical service representatives to prepare for emergencies — through the sharing of information, training and planning.

 

The group is working with the Western Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council on piloting a Multi-Agency Coordination Center. Lt. Col. Thomas Grady of the sheriff's department said planning for the piloting of the new program is "going good" despite some agencies worried that it will create an unneeded level of command.

 

Meanwhile, the Emergency Medical Services of Berkshire County President Brian Andrews says his organization is preparing a countywide mobilization plan for ambulance response and is asking the services to participate.

 

Also in the works, the Berkshire Disaster Animal Response Team's David Melle attended the meeting in hopes to organize a training session for responders in dealing with animals. The idea is to improve the efficiency of dealing with animals during an emergency. Melle said he is also trying to raise awareness among people to bring their pets with them in the event of a disaster.

 

The Red Cross representative also attended the meeting to pitch a new project for giving away home fire alarms. Cindy Hahn said the national organization has collected many alarms and she hopes to create a local program to distribute them to people. A few fire chiefs have already said they were interested, she said.

 

"It'll be a nice project for both of us," Hahn said.