City manager outlines current emergency preparedness plan

The Nevada state capital has seen its share of natural disasters and citywide emergencies.

From wildfires to flooding and all-too-common high wind events, Carson City Manager Nick Marano says local government is ready to respond at a moment's notice.

"The city has an emergency operations plan," Marano said. "We've gone through several rounds of modifications to it."

There is an emergency operations center, he said, that enhances communication between public safety and public works departments during local emergencies.

"Everyone from the public safety side and public works side is familiar with their duties, coordinating with each other and how we communicate to the general pubic," he said.

Marano said the city focused squarely on its emergency response procedures as winter gave way to spring this year, because of long-range meteorological forecasts for a wetter than normal spring.

"The original forecast for March was to have a much wetter and much warmer than normal month," he said.

Warmer temperatures, much higher than average precipitation, and a reduction in snow pack from early snow melt concerned city officials that area could be facing flood conditions, Marano said.

"Those conditions are the contributors to some of our worst flooding," he said.

Marano said the city worked hard to prepare for the worst by updating its emergency operations center (EOC) plan, ensuring that proper staff training had taken place and that public information about what to do in an emergency was readily available to residents.

"You have to be ready to respond to the event," Marano said. "And you also have to be able to communicate to the residents what they need to do."

He said some areas in Carson City sit on a 200-year flood plain. This means a major flooding event is most likely about every two centuries, Marano said, based on the amount of rain that falls in an area over a 200-year period.

"If enough rain is falling in a short period of time, it is going to overwhelm you," he said.

High desert landscape is often at high risk of flash flooding caused by thunderstorms, the season for which begins about now and runs into the fall.

Severe flash flooding occurred last year in the Johnson Lane area of the Carson Valley, washing out roads and leaving a lot of mud and debris in its wake.

As such, Marano said property owners are advised to take into account the impact that severe, localized rain storms can have in an area, and take appropriate precautions now to prepare for what can happen.

"It's always prudent for residents in those flood-prone areas to be sure culverts and ditches are cleaned out, and to keep sandbags available," he said.

Thankfully, weather in March and April behaved more like a lamb than a lion, so the threat of widespread spring flooding this year is passing.

But now there is the looming threat of wildfire as spring prepares to give way to the heat of summer. Wet winter and spring seasons have meant excessive growth of a lot of weeds and underbrush, which turn into fire fuels as they dry out in the warmer, drier months ahead.

Marano said the Carson City Fire Department has developed a wildland fuels reduction plan for properties that exist within the urban wildland interface (UWI). These are areas close to where the city's urban boundary meets wilderness.

The first step, Marano said, is to build and keep a defensible space around your home.

"Through our fuel reductions program, we have a full-time reduction specialist who will walk through the property with the homeowner and give recommendations for [fire fuels] removal," he said. "I recommend residents who live in the UWI to take advantage of our Wildfire Reductions Plan."

Marano said a feature of the program is delivery and pick up of either a trailer or 30 cubic-yard dumpster provided by the city. The disposal unit is delivered to the home, where residents then fill it up with fire fuel debris, and contact the city for pick up when they are finished.

"I encourage people to take advantage of that," said Marano, who himself has had several loads of debris hauled away from his property already.

But a good wildfire prevention plan also includes maintenance, he said.

"You not only have to build your defensible space, but you've got to maintain it," Marano said. "We try to prepare people and give them the tools for prevention, but in the end, it becomes an individual responsibility."

While programs for flood and wildfire control are essential to overall emergency preparedness, Marano said the corner stone of the city's EOC plan is its CodeRED incident alert and response system.

"It's the city's 9-1-1 system," he said. "CodeRED is probably the most important single item that every resident should sign up for."

Marano said the automated system, which can be accessed online through the Carson City municipal web site or using a mobile device application, gives the EOC and emergency dispatch the abiity to determine the radius of an effected area.

Anyone who has signed up for CodeRED alerts on their computers or mobile devices receives instant alerts and updates on a situation, he said.

"Everyone in that effected area is pinpointed and alerted," he said.

Marano recalled a high wind event in February that resulted in several downed trees. Debris on King Street closed off access to the schools there for many residents, he said.

The activated CodeRED system gave parents information about where the downed trees were, and the alternate street routes they could take to safely transport their children to school.

"That is the model we used in creating a system people can access from home or mobile device to see real time changes during significant events," Marano said.

The CodeRED system, he said, is designed to answer the questions residents will have during an emergency or significant event: What is going on? Where is it happening? Who is affected? And, what should I do?

CodeRED incorporates a Web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) of maps that give real time views of affected areas, Marano said. These are available online to the public.

Marano also said that first responder units -- police, fire and public works -- are responsible for inputting essential information into the system using tablets.

Upon arriving on scene, first responders get the word out first and then update information as the event develops, he said.

The CodeRED system is designed for everyone to access and use for information, Marano said.

Those without smart phones can still receive text alerts, he said.

"We wanted to improve the system and be able to send alerts out as well," Marano said.

The city's CodeRED incident alert system dates back to 2004 in the wake of the Waterfall Fire, said Carson City Deputy Emergency Manager Stacey Belt.

"An incident or emergency is often the mother of all inventions," she said. "Carson City Officials recognized a need to communicate with visitors and residents to deliver time-sensitive, geographically targeted safety messages."

The city contracted with Emergency Communications Network (ECN) or CodeRED in October 2004, Belt said, and it has undergone four generational capability updates since then.

The system, she said, works as a reverse 9-1-1 system, helping to deliver critical information during emergencies.

Many of the changes to the city's CodeRED system over the past 12 years have had to do with information delivery, Belt said.

"Advancement in technology changed the way people wanted to receive alerts," she said. "Carson City, partnering with ECN, has stayed ahead of the game, introducing the first location-based public safety mobile application that delivers alerts to users within the direct path of danger."

An easy to use system, Belt added, has given the city the ability to send integrated alerts by phone calls to land lines and cell phones, text messages, emails, Facebook, Twitter, and through new alerting tools introduced by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration).

Marano said CodeRED is key to keeping residents informed and ready to respond accordingly in case of an emergency or major event in Carson City.

"We've worked hard on the preparedness side to make sure the city is prepared for any emergency event, and we are working equally hard on the communication side to ensure people can access near real-time information," he said. "We invite the public to check it out and invite their feedback on it to see what we can do better."

For more information about CodeRED, or to register with the system, visit the Municipality of Carson City's web site at www.carson.org or go here.