Ridgefield Press
EMERGENCIES: Ridgefield refines its disaster plans
Jan 30, 2007

Ridgefield officials continue to refine disaster response plans in keeping with a mandate from Gov. M. Jodi Rell for every community in the state to complete evacuation sand shelter plans by May 1.

In a letter she sent Jan.21 to the 169 towns and cities in the state, Gov. Rell said the need to refine and complete plans was dire.

“We can not leave anything to chance,” Governor Rell said.  “This is the first time that comprehensive, statewide regional evacuation planning has been conducted in Connecticut.  We want to make certain that at the local and regional levels, Connecticut is ready.  We need to do our best to eliminate any and all potential sources of confusion and uncertainty during an emergency.”

Ridgefield has had plans in place for several years, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said. Town officials update those plans and a continuing basis he said.

The latest state plans, Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Management Heather Burford said, focus specifically on evacuations and sheltering either town residents or people evacuated to the town.

“It’s a working, living document,” Chief Burford said. “If we have any issues or want to make changes we can. We will take everything up and get a final document on May 1.”

Two methods

Ridgefield has two ways of dealing with a major disaster: evacuation and shelter in place.” Mr. Marconi and Chief Burford said most town residents would like “shelter in place” in the event of a massive storm or man-made disaster.

“That’s the safest thing to do,” Chief Burford said. “We want to limit exposure to any possible chemical or biological contaminant. Our first reaction would be to tell people to stay inside and, depending on what we’re dealing with, tell buildings to shut down their air conditioning systems.”

Evacuation, she said, was a last resort.

“The evacuation plans are really for the shoreline,” Chief Burford said. “That’s an outgrowth of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The effect here would be if there is flooding on the shore that we would open our shelters to accommodate people from the shoreline.”

Chief Burford said the biggest potential hazard comes from “what is transported over our roads. They tend to be in quantities and toxicity that can affect smaller areas.” At the same time, Ridgefield residents could expect small-scale evacuations in case of “long-term power outages” or major chemical spills or biological contamination.

“It really all depends,” Chief Burford said. “The first reaction is always shelter in place. In the case of a major blizzard or tornado, we would want to shelter people in place. If they’re not able to self-preserve, then we would begin staged evacuations.”

Staged evacuation

Chief Burford said if a tanker truck carrying chlorine overturned in the downtown – a worst-case scenario – officials would use a “staged evacuation” to methodically move people from the danger zone. A staged evacuation would start with those closest to danger and would expand according to weather conditions and the nature of the hazard.

“That is a worst-case scenario, something happening in out downtown,” Chief Burford said. “We’ve got businesses, senior housing and residential housing all in that area.”

There are anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 people living or working in the downtown area.

Should officials need to evacuate part of the town, Chief Burford said they would use “any means we can” to communicate with residents.

The town employs “City Watch,” a reverse 911 system that can call the 8,100 known residences in about 45 minutes.

Chief Burford also said firefighters and police would “go door-to-door, use bullhorns, radio, TV – anything we need” to let residents know they need to evacuate.

Once an evacuation begins, the trick is to know where to send people. The town has six shelters at schools but their capacity is less than the 25,000 population of Ridgefield. Chief Burford said the primary target for shelters in case of a large-scale evacuation would be “seniors, those with special needs and people with no where else to go.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, individuals should establish a safe place to go for themselves in the event of an evacuation. DHS lists friends, families or even hotels as possible places to find shelter.

“We know there will be some people who don’t have anyplace to go or who don’t have the money for a hotel,” Chief Burford said. “We will need to shelter those people.”

Although the town plans for the worst, Chief Burford said the chances of a town-wide evacuation are “very unlikely. God forbid if there was a major accident at Indian Point (nuclear plant in New York) or a dirty bomb, but other than that, I think it would unlikely that we would need to move the whole town.”

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