Working together vital to emergency management, officials say

The chief speaker was the new head of a new agency. James M. "Skip" Thomas was appointed in December to be commissioner of the new Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

The former police officer from Glastonbury spoke of the importance of prevention and said that the key to that was sharing information. To that end, his office has asked the Federal Communications Commission to approve the assignment of new radio channels to be used by emergency personnel, he said.

Thomas noted that it was important that equipment for 169 towns in the state be standardized so that police and firefighters would understand and be able to use each others' equipment. He emphasized training and performing exercises together so that when an emergency occurred, people would not be meeting each other for the first time.

His office has proposed legislation that will reimburse municipalities up to $200 a day for a replacement for a police officer or firefighter who is away training.

Thomas noted that it was often the police officer in the field who might stop a car for some minor traffic violation and thus prevent a future act of terrorism, or catch a terrorist, mentioning that a police officer had caught Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, simply because he was speeding and had a partially obscured license plate.

As for funding for Homeland Security, Thomas said that the federal government has alloted Connecticut $24 million for fiscal year 2005. That is almost half of the 2004 funding which was $45.5 million. Eighty percent of the money received by Connecticut must be passed through to the towns. So far, the 2004 funds have not been distributed because they were only approved in November. As a result, funds for 2004 and 2005 will be distributed concurrently.

The amount each town will receive depends on the number of people in a town and also on the number of police and firefighters. Westport will receive a total of $102,459, and Weston will receive $38,748.

Captain Peter J. Boynton, Group Commander of the United States Coast Guard in Connecticut, said that he had 250 people on his staff, but told the assembled police and fire chiefs and first selectmen that "together, your force is bigger than my force." He noted that Connecticut had a large shoreline, that an average of 740 foreign ships a year docked here and that, furthermore, each ship's crew is comprised of six or seven different nationalities. He said that when you go to an airport, they look at your shoe, but the "shoe" of a ship is often bigger than a football field. "Absolutely, we rely on our partners," in local law enforcement, he said. The Coast Guard also relies on two helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to help in surveillance.

John J. Shaw, DMD, Senior Project Manager of the Capitol Region Metropolitan Medical Response System, said that "It's great to make plans, but you have to make those plans come alive with the guys on the street." To that end, medicines for emergencies are provided to the families of "first responders," because these people will feel better about leaving their families to respond to an emergency if they knew that their families are taken care of, he said.

Scott Appleby, Emergency Management Director of Bridgeport, said that while Bridgeport had two hospitals, other towns "may have services and personnel that we don't."

Denis McCarthy, Westport's Fire Chief, said that the incident in which a fuel oil truck caught fire on I-95 in Bridgeport last spring showed the importance of working together. He noted that the communities along I-95 had signed a mutual aid pact in 1993 and had taken significant steps to work together since them. He said, "The leadership in this room is meeting challenges and it's not based on [more recent] funding for Homeland Security." He particularly noted the Hazardous Materials team or HAZMAT, which responds to problems in 15 area towns.

He noted that a serious threat to Fairfield County could come from an event elsewhere, most likely in New York City.

He brought up the issue of the World Trade Center's destruction on Sept. 11, 2001. He said the number one issue then was why did the firefighters inside the Twin Towers not know what the police knew from outside the buildings. "So, communication from car to command post [is key]," he said. "If we spend $35 million, do we solve that problem?"

©Westport Minuteman 2005