miniddy7的部落格

Source: The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.迷你倉Aug. 17--APPLETON -- Outagamie County's emergency management director could be fired and sheriff's department personnel disciplined because emergency sirens were not sounded in advance of last week's storms that caused at least $31 million in damage.The Outagamie County Public Safety committee met in closed session for about 90 minutes Friday afternoon before announcing its recommendations, which include discipline up to and including termination for Emergency Management Director Julie Loeffelholz.The committee's discussion focused on why severe weather sirens were not sounded during the fast-moving overnight storm Aug. 7 that knocked out power to about 60,000 We Energies customers, leveled a church in New London and took down trees and traffic signals across northeast Wisconsin. Ultimately, the committee found fault with three parts of the storm response.The members decided Loeffelholz failed in her duties by not sounding the alarm and said it would recommend to County Executive Tom Nelson that Loeffelholz should be disciplined, including possible termination."When policy wasn't followed, we have to take action to keep the community safe," Public Safety chairman James Duncan told Post-Crescent Media. "Just because it's not the best system is not an excuse for us not using it."Loeffelholz declined to comment on the outcome of the meeting, saying she had not heard the committee's decision and added, "I think that's a personal matter that I won't be discussing with you."The Outagamie County Sheriff's Office also shared some of the blame, the committee decided, because the department failed to maintain the Binghamton Tower in Black Creek, the county's main public safety communication system tower.Sheriff Bradley Gehring could not be reached for comment Friday evening.The committee said it would recommend investigating the tower's preventative maintenance and disciplining those responsible for the tower's upkeep or providing correction action.During a Feb. 12 meeting, Steve Hansel, the deputy emergency management director, told the Public Safety Committee that the emergency communication system was at risk of failure because it only had one repeater, according to meeting records. Hansel advised that if the repeater failed, the sirens would not operate, and if the Binghamton Tower backup generator also failed, there would be no service.Installing a second repeater would cost $25,000, and the tower would need to be in the center of the county, according to the 文件倉eeting minutes. Hansel said he would report back with more information, but there was no record of further discussion in subsequent meeting minutes.Committee members discussed the tower's operations at the end of Friday's meeting, and said the tower wasn't connected during the storm. Duncan declined to elaborate, saying it involved information presented during the closed session.However, Duncan did add that the committee thinks the National Weather Service was partly at fault for not issuing a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning earlier.The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the region at 10:46 p.m., followed by a warning for Outagamie, Calumet and Winnebago counties at 12:38 a.m.The six tornadoes struck the Fox Valley between 12:23 and 1:06 a.m., according to a National Weather Service report. This particular storm was extremely unusual, however, in that it moved at speeds between 60 and 70 mph -- nearly twice as fast as a typical storm, said Jeff Last, National Weather Service Green Bay warning coordination meteorologist.The National Weather Service is already looking into whether it could have reacted faster and issued warnings sooner by identifying the storm as severe weather while it still was in Waupaca County, Last said."We do this type of review after every significant event because we want to enhance the service we are providing to the public," Last said. "Obviously what we want to do is give citizens as much heads up as possible."But Last said the outdoor sirens should not be relied upon by themselves because they are designed only to be heard by people outside and don't give a full picture of the situation."Outdoor sirens should be part of an integrated warning system," he said. "That means it's important for people to have multiple ways to get severe weather information."The National Weather Service recommends people purchase weather alert radios for their homes.The Public Safety Committee also will recommend changes to the emergency communication system, including allowing the telecommunications supervisor to sound the sirens in a critical situation. Committee members added that the criteria for activating the sirens should be more liberal and that it was fortunate no one was killed in the storm.-- Ariel Cheung: 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or acheung@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @arielfabCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wis.) Visit The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wis.) at .postcrescent.com Distributed by MCT Information Services存倉