Shannon Weiner, the director of Monroe County Emergency Management joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
An annual radiological preparedness exercise just took place.
Weiner said, “Monroe County Emergency Management maintains the radiological emergency preparedness program. That is something we do in partnership with FP&L and FEMA, relevant to an emergency Turkey Point nuclear power plant. If there were to be in an emergency at the power plant, it could potentially affect the Upper Keys. So we do partner with them to support the program, but also to practice, train and exercise together so that we would be prepared in the event that they should have an accident there to protect and provide for the safety of our community. It is very much a partnership with the power plant, and FEMA. We exercise an accident scenario there with them each year. FEMA comes in and evaluates all of the participants and their training skills, and operations. We also have support from the Florida Division of Emergency Management and we work very, very closely as we walk through those response protocols with Miami Dade Emergency Management as well. Because especially up there, we’re in very close proximity with the mainland. So we also will exercise our EOC here in the Keys. We have a special EOC for radiological responses up in Tavernier, at the Tavernier fire station up there, where all our EOC partners come together, we stand up a little EOC there. We like to use that one for that type of event because it’s closer. So if our responders need to check in or coordinate, pick up equipment that types of things, they’re closer on the scene for that type of response. So very, very, very involved, very complex. We use the same systems and protocols and communications that we do for a hurricane, but with a different mission.”
What kind of responses would occur if a radiological event were to happen?
Weiner said, “The power plant is incredibly proactive on communications about the activities at the plant. We would receive concurrent notifications from the plant itself. If they have had an equipment failure, or any type of system failure or leakage, we would also get that notification from the state watch office from the Florida Division of Emergency Management. FP&L sends the notification concurrently to us, and the state and Miami Dade as well. We in turn, notify our partners and it’s a response that is very forward leaning. We don’t wait, if they are having some type of equipment failure, that is indicating that there might potentially be a leak down the line, we muster, we activate that EOC and everyone gets put on standby and pulled together so that they can respond quickly. With an accident, any kind of accident, things change very dynamically, they can change in a minute. You may or may not have the lead time you have with a storm. So the partnerships between FP&L and Miami Dade and FEMA and in the state are very strong, and everyone really practices that coming together and leaning forward and standing by ready to respond as soon as we hear that there might be any type of system failure at the power plant. In order to support that FP&L does fund for us a specific position. They are the radiological emergency preparedness planner. He knows the area, he loves the Keys and has just a great wealth of local knowledge and now knowledge at that federal level as well. So we’re very excited to have him back with the team and leading us through any type of response for radiological emergency.”
If notification of a radiological emergency came from Turkey Point, people would evacuate to the south, instead of the north.
Weiner said, “The evacuation area, it’s a smaller area for us to evacuate in Monroe County. The entire county would not have to be evacuated. But we do ask those that live in those very northern Key Largo neighborhoods, Anglers Club and Ocean Reef, we would ask them to evacuate south to Key Largo School. If Key Largo school were to become overwhelmed, we have Coral Shores as our backup relocation point and shelter. So yes, a little different scenario for sure. But having all that infrastructure for communications in place, and working with our EOC partners throughout the year really helps us have a very consistent and cohesive network for response.”
The business reentry program is opening up again.
Weiner said, “Monroe County developed an early reentry placard program. This really grew out of a response from Hurricane Irma. We did our hometown discussions, the townhall discussions and people and businesses we found were really willing and able to provide assistance in that initial recovery phase post storm. So we took advantage of that, as a county. If you are a business that is able to provide essential services for recovery in the Florida Keys, post storm, which would be anything from if you’re a restaurant, and you can help provide food to the community, or first responders or if you are a hotel and can provide temporary housing to emergency workers, or those displaced from their homes. Or if you are in the construction business, if you sell hardware, those types of things, would supplies, or if you are a contractor yourself to do that work, and you’re willing to come in and support the county efforts to quickly rebuild here in the county. Those are the types of businesses that we’re looking for. If you are a landscaping company, you can help with tree removal. There’s lots of businesses that help us recover post storm, and we want to give you the opportunity to come back early and help pull that community back together in that initial response phase. So the program, you can go to our website, and click on preparedness. Under that you’ll see reentry program. Basically, you fill out an application. The program opened for application March 1 and it’ll end April 30. We ask that you give us about two weeks to turn around your application. Basically what that application is you provide proof of your business as being a Monroe County business and we have a template where we asked you some questions on how your business would be prepared not only to help, but how your business could be self sustaining after a storm, because we want to bring you in to help. We don’t want to bring you in to put a strain on the already limited resources we have in the county. So it’ll ask you things like what is your feeding plan? Do you have a communications plan? If we don’t have communications, what’s your backup plan? What part of the Keys can you assist? And what services can you provide? And where are you going to house yourself in the event that your home is not safe? It takes a little bit of time, but not too much. We invite any businesses that are willing to support and help and know that they might not be working in the most pristine conditions that we have most days here in the Florida Keys. So if that sounds like something your business can contribute to and you want to be a part of, then we encourage you to go online and apply for that between March 1 and April 30.”
The Emergency Operations Center is still looking at a June 1 opening.
Weiner said, “We’re very excited about that. Our project manager and our construction managers, I met with them just last week, and was able to do a walkthrough of the facility. It’s looking pretty nice. They were putting in the elevators when I was there, and they expected that to be done in a week. It’s going to be a very safe place for our first responders to work out of while we’re experiencing that landfall, and it will have the space that we desperately need for all the support that comes in to this county to help with that response and recovery to be able to work out of, right there located in Marathon and the center of the Keys. It will be of great benefit to the community, not just during storm season when we have a storm, but we do have meeting space that we’re going to provide to all our EOC partners throughout the year, so that if they have a training or an exercise that they want to do as well, they can use that space in blue skies. So it will definitely be a building that is there for all our infrastructure and first responder partners year round. So we’re very excited to be able to share that space with them.”
It’s never too early to have a plan for hurricane season.
Weiner said, “Just remember to have a plan if we can stay home and shelter in our homes, have a plan to evacuate to the mainland if we need to do that as well.”
For more information, click here: http://www.monroecountyem.com/782/Emergency-Management/