Event-filled Weekend Tested Regional Emergency Managers
DALTON, Mass. — This past weekend provided an opportunity for emergency management officials to work countywide.
With a plethora of events bringing thousands of people the Berkshires, the three Regional Emergency Planning Committees pre-planned responses and allocation of resources should there be a mass casualty incident.
"The three divisions' executive boards convened and we looked at what was the potential across the county for that weekend? What was the weather going to be like and stuff like that. We put together plans on where we could shift resources," said Central Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee Chairman Robert Czerwinski, Pittsfield's fire chief.
In North Adams, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's three-day Freshgrass Festival brought some 5,000 to 6,000 people to the campus. Throughout much of South County, the Josh Billings Runaground brought many more. In Lee, Main Street was shut down for Founders Day weekend and an array of events surrounding it and in another part of town, the Hells Angels held a picnic. All of those events had the potential for extra emergency response should something go wrong.
"We had to shift some ambulances around during the Josh. We had a great an emergency operations center for the Josh Billings," Czerwinski said.
The rain caused a bicycle accident during the triathalon and one ambulance had to depart the event and go to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. Ambulance response was accommodated. Otherwise, all of the events went off without incident.
"That was great opportunity for us to work together in a team fashion," Czerwinski said.
The next challenge for the Central Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee will be the Wings, Wheels, and Warbirds event at the Pittsfield Municipal Airport on Oct. 8. That event will particularly cause traffic concerns but responders will also be on scene for any needed responses. The event shows off old cars, airplanes, antique military equipment, and some modern vehicles. It also includes an aerial acrobatic show.
Airport officials hope to bring a full airshow to the county in the future. Czerwinski said he doesn't know what to expect with this aerial event but will be working with other officials on plans to provide adequate emergency protection.
In other business, Czerwinski said the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has released the final updated ethanol incident planning guide and he hopes local fire departments, particularly those with rail lines, review it.
"We know the CSX line that comes in through Richmond and basically bisects the county and goes into Becket and Chester, we've got a lot of ethanol being transported on that one rail line. Anywhere from eight to 12 times a month there are dedicated unit trains with over 2 million gallons of ethanol that go on there," Czerwinski said.
Ethanol is also transported on the Housatonic and PanAm rail lines. The document is also useful for towns that field calls for service on the Massachusetts Turnpike, where ethanol is transported by trucks.
"The document, the final draft that came out in the end of June, it really is a lot of background about ethanol but there is some key information in here, especially for fire chiefs," Czerwinski said.
The plan gives guides on the area spill and how much alcohol-resistant, aqueous film-forming foams or water would be needed.
The report is also coupled with the release of updated National Fire Protection Association guide for high-hazard flammable trains. That document focuses on on-scene incident command for such events as a train derailment with hazardous chemicals — like the Lac-Megantic rail crash in Quebec, when a train carrying 30,000 gallons of crude oil derailed and killed 42 people three years ago.
"If I have a rail line in my community, I would get my hands on these documents and share them with the Fire Department," Czerwinski said.
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