Lessons Learned

Thursday, December 10, 2009

By KATHY CLEVELAND

Staff Writer

On Dec. 11 and 12 last year freezing rain smashed trees and branches, taking down power lines and blocking roads to homes and businesses.

The ice storm was an incredible natural disaster, and one year later emergency officials say changes – in communication, training citizen volunteers and in shelter preparation – mean local towns are becoming better prepared for all kinds of future disasters.

For people stranded without power last December, information about what was going on and when power would be restored was almost as important as heat and water.

Since then Amherst and Mont Vernon have signed up for a emergency alert subscription system that will give subscribers pre-recorded messages about disasters, weather, crime alerts and search and rescue operations

And in Milford Fire Chief Frank Fraitzl, the town’s emergency management director, said the town recently instituted a Nixle communication system that allows people to sign up for alerts by e-mails, cellphone or pager by going to the Fire Department’s home page and then to its emergency e-mail link.

Milford is also working with the Red Cross to improve its shelter agreement, said Fraitzl. The Heron Pond Elementary School served as the area’s emergency shelter and that was a heavy burden on the town, he said, and Milford probably had the smallest number of people who used it.

The high school is better suited as an emergency shelter because it has showers, said the fire chief, and the town is applying for a grant to buy a generator for the school.

On the second day of last year’s disaster, ham radio operator Fletcher Seagroves of Milford was called to the Amherst Communications Center, where he worked until phone lines were restored. Now Amherst Fire Chief Rick Todd and Deputy Chief Don Holden have acquired amateur radio licenses, and two other people in town are taking the course.

Todd said a ham radio antenna will soon be installed at the police station, which is the town’s emergency operations center.

Amherst is also renovating and equipping a donated travel trailer that will serve as a mobile command post that emergency responders can use at the scene of major accidents or natural disasters.

Lyndeborough was one of the hardest hit towns in the state, and National Guard troops checked on residents who were without power for days.

Since then the town has established a shelter at the elementary school with a generator, said Town Administrator Jim Bingham, and is stockpiling cots, blankets and other emergency items.

Some Lyndeborough residents are now part of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that has been formed for Amherst, Milford and Mont Vernon that will help with traffic control, checking citizens’ welfare, delivering water and other supplies and staffing shelters.

More than two-thirds of Public Service of New Hampshire’s customers were without power after last year’s storm, some for more than a week, and utility crews from Canada, Ohio, Maryland and Connecticut came here to help deal with the unprecedented devastation. Recovery was also hampered by two back-to-back snowstorms that followed the ice storm.

“It’s all about communication and coordination,” said PSNH spokesman Martin Murray, who said the company has assigned additional staff – in this area Elizabeth LaRocca – to be direct liaisons to the community.

It’s also about trees.

Recent legislation will allow more tree trimming in New Hampshire, the second most heavily forested state in the country, said Murray. But “even trimming to the letter of the law” won’t prevent major power outages, he said.

State law still requires homeowners to give permission when a utility wants to trim trees, but a no answer after the 45-day notification period will now be considered the equivalent of permission.

If the homeowners say no, but PSNH insists, the issue goes to selectmen, according to state law.

“It will be interesting to see how much it helps,” said Martin. “We will continue to educate customers” and teach them how their trees can impact their neighbors and about tree planting around power lines.

During the storm some homeowners were frustrated because power was restored to their road but not to their homes. To help speed the restoration process, PSNH has developed a list of more than 100 licensed independent electricians, said Murray, who can do small tasks, such as problems related to meters.

Of the five towns in The Cabinet’s circulation area, only Wilton has made no changes.

Thomas Herlihy, the town’s emergency director, said the town was fairly well prepared.

“Firefighters and police carried the day,” and volunteer firefighters worked 24 hours a day for more than 12 days, clearing roads and feeding people at the fire station.

With the exception of the elderly residents of Edgewater Estates who had to be taken to emergency shelters, he said most people weathered the storm in their homes.

Fire Chief Ray Dick “knows the resources and took charge after the first night,” said Herlihy. “The credit goes to the fire and police departments.

In the future, though, “we will know how to set things up in a timely fashion,” he said, and obtain food and water more quickly.

It was not until dawn broke the next day that everyone realized how bad it was.

“It almost boggled my mind,” said Herlihy, to see the piles of tangled ice-coated wires and branches all over the roads.