Board sees progress on disaster plan

Working with several documents the past few weeks, members of the Town Emergency Management Commission are now on the same page.

The local advisory board, which is developing a Community Emergency Management Plan for La Conner, has moved closer to completing the ambitious project after reviewing similar plans from Skagit County, the City of Anacortes, Shelter Bay, the Swinomish Tribal Community and other entities.

Commissioners indicated during their April 2 public meeting that they’re ready to consolidate those outside resource materials into a single plan spelling out the town’s specific emergency management protocols.

“The goal of this document is to produce for La Conner a product that identifies the processes and identifies who will be responsible for specific tasks,” commissioner Jim White said.

The plan is designed to be detailed yet reader friendly. Its intent is to cover multiple emergency and natural disaster scenarios – flooding, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis and major windstorms.

Commission chair Jerry George noted that hazards cited in the county’s plan, of which he has spoken highly, don’t necessarily match risk levels in La Conner.

The wildfire risk in La Conner is relatively low, George said, unlike the Swinomish ­Reservation.

“There are some differences in risk levels between the county and the town,” said George. “The wildfire risk isn’t much here but in Shelter Bay it’s a higher risk.”

Town Administrator Scott Thomas, who regularly attends commission meetings, echoed that point. Embers from structure fires in La Conner could drift across Swinomish Channel to Shelter Bay and Swinomish Village.

Town, Swinomish, Shelter Bay and Skagit County Fire District 13 representatives are increasing their emergency management planning. White alluded to the windstorm response exercise conducted on the reservation March 30.

“This is a pretty good plan already,” George said of La Conner’s emergency plan-in-progress. “We just need some tightening up. We need to firm up our working relationship with the tribe and Shelter Bay.”

George said he has previously met with Swinomish Director of Emergency Management Brian Geer. He called Geer “a very savvy guy” and invited him to make a formal presentation to the commission.

Still, La Conner is responsible for producing an emergency plan specific to the town. All possibilities will be considered.

“How we address access to people with limited English proficiency and additional functional needs should be the plan,” Thomas said. “And pets. How to keep people together with their animals will be a challenge. Some of these pets will be service animals as well. You need to think about that.”

George and Commissioner Jamie Throgmorton said the plan must also prioritize emergency communications.

“In any disaster event, communication is usually the first casualty,” George said.

Throgmorton said communication in the planning process is likewise important.

“It’s great that we talk these things through,” she said. “This is exactly what we need to be doing.”