Letter from Police and Fire on the need for an EOC

The Public Safety Building team will be holding its first public information session virtually on February 25 at 7 pm. The team (Ian Catlow, Advisory Committee member Rick McCowan, Police Chief Michele Powers, Fire Chief John Bennet, and Selectboard Chair Karen Cruise) along with Caolo & Bieniek, Architects will be presenting two designs for the new Public Safety Building the Town is planning to build at the site of the former Princeton Center School. One space that will be discussed at that meeting is the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The space will also be used for public safety training and hopefully for Town board and committee meetings. Since the team expects many questions about the EOC aspects of this shared space, the Police and Fire Departments would like to provide you with more information on this critical function.

 

An EOC is a central facility, planned and prepared for in advance, used by government officials for coordinating the response and recovery efforts needed during any type of disaster or critical incident. The facility must have the physical resources required to support government officials as they gather information and direct operations. When Princeton faces an incident in which our resources are being taxed to their limit and outside assistance is needed (eg – local, state or federal), it is time to consider the activation of the EOC. Note that the term EOC sometimes refers to the facility and equipment but may also refer more broadly to the operations run out of the physical EOC space.

Princeton has had numerous incidents where an EOC was needed. Some of the most recent include the COVID pandemic, the 30 Mountain Rd (Princeton Inn) fire in 2017, the Vanessa Marcotte murder investigation in 2016, the Ball Hill Rd explosion in 2012, and the ice storm in 2008. Other notable incidents are when the Princeton Fire Chief was accused of drug theft in 2012, a seven-mile brush fire started by a train in 2007, and a major train accident in 1989. Later in this letter we will discuss how these incidents were handled and how a well-designed EOC would have helped considerably.

 

Primary functions of the EOC are coordination, policy making, operation management, information and record keeping, public information management, managing the media, and hosting visitors such as press events, State officials, consultants, or vendors.

 

Components of an effective EOC include:

Flexibility- This includes having sufficient space, equipment, furniture, administrative supplies, telecommunications and computer support.

 

Sustainability- Need to support operations for an extended duration; e.g.; be able to sustain operations 24 hours a day/seven days a week during all emergency situations without interruption.

 

Security- Has sufficient security and structural integrity to protect the facility, its occupants and communications equipment from relevant threats and hazards.

 

Survivability- Sustains the effects of an event and continues operations from the EOC or a fully capable alternate location. (what does this mean? survives power outage, internet outage, phone outage).

 

Interoperability- Be able to communicate with emergency response teams at or near an incident site, other local and regional EOCs, and state EOC.

 

What does that actually mean for the EOC? It needs:

Sleeping accommodations- Cots, blankets, sleeping bags, and space for them to be used without being in the way.

 

Emergency generator- Sufficient back-up and supply power for all critical systems.

 

Food supply- Sufficient for three meals per person per day for the span of the incident.

 

Sanitary facilities- Accommodations for showering, laundry and garbage disposal as well as toilets.

 

Medical supplies- First aid kits and dispensary type supplies such as bandages, antiseptics, pain relievers.

 

Back-up equipment and supplies- Batteries and chargers, radios, cables, connectors and wires, laptop computers and printers, and a minimum three-day supply of other necessary office supplies.

 

Separate from civilian shelter– To minimize distributed lines of communication and pressure on EOC members, it is ideal to separate the EOC from civilian shelters.

 

The advantages of having the EOC attached to the new public safety building are the ready availability of communications, backup power, kitchen, restrooms, showers, laundry, extra meeting spaces (allowing for sidebar meetings to occur away from the operations floor), and secure entry control.

 

When thinking about the size of the facility, it is important to consider the number of people who might be working out of it at various times during different types of incidents. People with authority to make top-level decisions need to be in the EOC during an emergency. Depending upon the type of emergency, we might have the Town Administrator, a Selectboard member, the Emergency Response Director (who is also the Fire Chief in Princeton), Logistics personnel, the Police Chief, the Council on Aging Director, a Board of Health representative, a Health Official (Medical Officer or ALS Chief), the EMS Chief, a Building Department representative, the Highway Superintendent, IT support, administrative support, etc. The MA Building Code does not have an EOC classification but there are numerous recommendations on sizes and requirements for EOCs from a number of agencies. Caolo & Bieniek have seen recommendation ranges from 30 to 80 square feet per person.  At 50 square feet per person, our proposed EOC would accommodate 18 people, a number our Police and Fire Chiefs believe is reasonable given their many years of experience. Unless the project receives funding from a source with specific requirements, the size is determined by the Town, Police, Fire and related departments. 

 

Without a dedicated space designed for operations during emergencies, incident commanders are in the field, attempting to handle the planning and communications, while surrounded by the chaos of the event. The incident commanders benefit from being away from the heat of the moment, in a space that is controlled, away from the crisis and separate from day-to-day operations, where they can manage and communicate. If an organization chart or critical information is left on a white board, it will be there when the commander returns to the EOC. Nobody needs to worry about whether the printer will work or the network is up. The EOC is used for rehab of personnel (feeding them, letting them rest), logistics and communication. It is also used afterwards for a full incident debrief.

 

During the Vanessa Marcotte murder investigation, the state police and detectives had to set up secure computer systems, two-way communication devices, and satellite contact from the Annex to manage the event.  Aside from the inconvenience to boards and committees of having the Annex tied up for several weeks, the investigation was hampered by close proximity of the press, the need to set up systems from scratch, and a lack of a reasonably-sized staging area.

 

During the COVID pandemic, we would have benefitted from an EOC by having had workstations set up with plexiglass dividers and adequate separation for personal protection. We could have had the Board of Health, the Fire/EMS department logistics and ALS personnel, and perhaps even the Council on Aging director, working from there at times. It would have been used as a central point for management of supplies (including PPE), resident lists, and communication.

 

The 30 Mountain Rd (Princeton Inn) fire would also have benefitted from a well-designed EOC. Twenty-two departments responded. We had Fire Chiefs from Holden, West Boylston, Rutland, Paxton, Boylston and Sterling all on-site and playing specific roles. The Chiefs stood underneath a Tahoe’s back hatch door to plan and coordinate. The response would have been considerably more effective if some of the Chiefs were in the EOC, managing in a less chaotic environment. Instead of having an officer in the center of town managing the trucks staged along Mountain Rd, the trucks should have been managed from the EOC, with good communication gear, white boards, and maps. Instead of bringing in a State rehab trailer, tired first responders would have been sent to the EOC for food and to get out of the weather. Complicating matters at the scene, the press was milling around. They would have been redirected to the EOC for their updates.

 

You may wonder why Station 2 wasn’t used for an EOC during the fire. Other departments were manning our stations while we fought the fire. Their trucks were parked outside since they were too big to fit inside the current Princeton center station. Their people were in the stations. It would have added complexity to have been trying to run an EOC around the daily operation of the station.

 

The Ball Hill Rd house explosion in 2012 also had the need for an EOC. Multiple State agencies needed to be called in because of suspected arson. The EOC would have been used for planning, review and evidence management. Again, pulling most of the management away from the scene and putting them in an EOC would have facilitated communication and let the teams on the ground focus. Press briefings would have been given out of the EOC.

 

Many residents remember the ice storm of 2008. Thomas Prince School (TPS) was used as a shelter for residents and logistics were managed out of PMLD. First responders were at the school, PMLD, and the two stations. An EOC would have been used for rehab of first responders. Without an EOC, they were sent to TPS for food and sleep. Residents, desperate for updates, bombarded them with questions. The first responders weren’t given the time and space to regroup. A fully functioning EOC would have had highway, COA, and PMLD along with Police and Fire/EMS working out of it in a coordinated fashion. An EOC would have facilitated the logistics around and communication of which roads were open, specific areas of Town that needed to be reached, which areas PMLD had restored power in and where they were moving next. and which elderly residents needed to be checked on. 

 

The previous Princeton Fire Chief was accused of drug theft in 2012. Communication between various investigators, Town employees, and Town officials, as well as press briefings could have been better managed with an EOC. The Police, Fire/EMS, and Selectboard needed to be in tight coordination as they managed not only communication, but also a delicate employee situation.

 

We had seven-mile brush fire started by a train in 2007. Multiple departments responded and the Chiefs huddled under the RR trestle on Ball Hill to pour over maps and plan. Trucks were staged at the intersection of Gates and 62 and directed from there. Meanwhile, an officer in a truck on scene was on his radio talking with dispatch about getting the trains stopped. Dispatch was not set up to handle this level of coordination during an emergency while also handling their normal duties. The train people didn’t believe there was an issue and didn’t stop the train. It plowed right into a new Gardner firetruck that was sitting on the tracks completely destroying it. Luckily nobody was injured. A well-designed and well-implemented EOC would have helped with all of the communication and coordination. There would have been places to lay out the maps and pour over them without being in the way.

 

In 1989 there was a major train accident that killed three members of a young family. The first officer on the scene, your current fire chief, was only 23 years old at the time and still has nightmares about that event. In hindsight, an EOC would have allowed for a staging area for the medical examiner to do his work and a space to brief the press in a controlled and deliberate fashion. It would have provided space and privacy for the trauma counseling that is now done routinely after emotionally difficult incidents. It would have also allowed for a thorough debrief and review of what worked and what didn’t.

 

The EOC/Training/Meeting room, at 900 square feet, is a significant investment for taxpayers. The Fire and Police departments hope that we have helped you understand why this is a necessary and important investment in the Town’s future.