Emergency Operations Center Staff Prepare for Limerick Exercise - By Tony P.

Every two years Chester County is evaluated on its ability to respond to an emergency at the Limerick Generating Station.  State and Federal evaluators descend upon the county and surrounding areas to evaluate Exelon, the owner/operator of the plant, and the emergency services’ plans, policies and procedures.  Tony Przychodzien, the County’s Radiological Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, provided a briefing to Emergency Operations Center (EOC) staff on the exercise.  Information included where to report, what time, and what the objectives of the exercise were.  The pre-briefing also provided a great opportunity for everyone to review their roles and responsibilities in the plan and in the EOC.

The EOC is a central facility responsible for coordinating response and recovery efforts for local governments within the county, state, and federal authorities.  The EOC is fully equipped with dedicated communication, computer and satellite links to assist the EOC staff in an emergency situation.  All activities in the EOC are done in close cooperation with the County Commissioners, Municipal Emergency Management Agencies, and emergency responder organizations throughout the county.

For more information on the Limerick Generating Station, click here. 

For a copy of the Emergency Planning pamphlet that is distributed annually to the areas surrounding Limerick, click here.

Disaster Assistance Deadline is November 14th

Those individuals that experienced damage from Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee are reminded that the deadline for registering with FEMA for disaster assistance is quickly approaching.  All damage related to those two storms must be registered and reported to FEMA by November 14^th.  Individuals can register using one of the following methods:

·         Online at http://www.disasterassistance.gov/

·         Via smartphone at m.fema.gov

·         Telephone, toll-free, at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362)

If you are unsure if you are eligible to receive assistance, FEMA has an anonymous on-line questionnaire you can use to see what kind of assistance you might be eligible to receive.  You can use this tool by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov/questionnaire

Farmers can also receive assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture.  For more information on this assistance, visit http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=diap&topic=landing

Change your Clocks, Change your Batteries

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Chester County Department of Emergency Services encourages

all citizens to participate in the annual home fire safety program;

Change Your Clock

Change Your Battery !

Sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs

and Energizer brand batteries, the program urges you to adopt

a simple lifesaving habit: 

Change all of your Smoke Alarm batteries

when you turn your clocks back on November 6, 2011.

Protecting your home is simple:   Change, Check, Count, Clean !

Change the batteries in all of your smoke alarms

Check your smoke alarms to be sure they are working properly

Count how many smoke alarms you have in your home

Clean you smoke alarms – when you change the batteries, dust the inside and outside of the smoke alarms

For more information go to:

www.energize.com

Click on Learning Center

Click on Keep Safe Keep Going



Hazmat Team Responds to Incidents

HazMat Team responds to two calls

On Thursday, November 3, 2011

At 12:18pm, the Chester County Hazardous Materials Response Team was dispatched to assist the Phoenixville Fire Department for a hazardous materials incident.  Crews arrived to find a freezer unit in the Giant Food Stores on Nutt Road leaking Freon.  The Fire Department was able to stop the leak and begin ventilating the store.  HazMat crews monitored the air inside the building to ensure a safe space for employees and shoppers to return.  12 members of the team responded and operated for about two hours.

Freon is a very dangerous chemical.  It is a colorless, odorless, nonflammable and noncorrosive.  It can displace oxygen, which in a small area can be deadly.  In May, a man was killed and three others were seriously injured as a result of a Freon leak in Charlestown Township.  Freon was commonly used as a refrigerant, although it is becoming less common being replaced with more environmentally-friendly alternatives.

The team’s second call for the day was to assist the West Grove Fire Company for what appeared to be an unconscious person in a vehicle.  The caller smelled chemicals so, as a precaution, the Hazardous Materials Response Team was dispatched.  It was feared that the person in the vehicle had committed suicide using chemicals.  Fortunately, he was okay and the matter was turned over to the police. 

Chester County has had its fair share of chemical suicides.  In October, a man killed himself by mixing two chemicals together in a vehicle in Pennsbury.  In December, another man did the same thing in West Chester.  Chemical suicides have plagued the United States since 2008, and continue to be on the rise.  As of November 1, 2010, there had been 29 chemical suicides in the United States.  This kind of suicide can be very dangerous to responders and the public.  Most of the time the person will post a sign warning those nearby that it is dangerous and they should call 9-1-1.  These easily recognizable signs occur in about 90% of the incidents.  There are however, the not so easily recognizable incidents where there are no signs and little in the way of clues.  This is where everyone needs to have a heightened sense of awareness.

Director's Monthly Report for October

The 9-1-1 Operations Center processed 26,803 emergency telephone calls or about 865 per day.  There were 1,209 fire dispatches and 3,332 emergency medical services (EMS) dispatches.  The average fire/EMS dispatch time was 1 minute and 22 seconds.  There were 28,056 police responses.  The average police dispatch time was 1 minute and 34 seconds.

The winter storm of 29 October resulted in 2,146 emergency calls with 425 fire/EMS dispatches and 1,550 police dispatches.  On a normal day we have about 100 fire/EMS dispatches and about 800 police dispatches.

Minquas EMS and Brandywine Hospital complete MS-1 Drill - By Tony P.

Imagine this situation for a moment:

You are dispatched to a call reporting an injured and radiological contaminated person. 

Do you know what to do as an EMS provider?

Imagine you are at the Hospital receiving this patient and the EMS crew notifies you they are bringing a contaminated patient to your Emergency Department.  Would you know what to do or who to call?

This is the situation that Minquas EMS and Brandywine Hospital experienced on October 28^th as part of a federally-evaluated exercise.

MS-1 refers to the Medical Services Hospital Program under the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program.  There are 16 MS-1 hospitals in the Commonwealth.  Brandywine Hospital is designated as the County’s MS-1 hospital for incidents at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.  Every two years they are federally evaluated to ensure they can receive a patient, decontaminate the patient and treat the patient based on their plan.

All participants did a great job in showing that we are prepared for patients that are affected by a radiological accident.

Great job Brandywine Hospital and Minquas EMS!