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10-11-2012 LEPC MinutesLEPC Minutes October 11, 2012 Mary’s Diner—12:00 pm Members Present: Myles Barton U.S. EPA Pete Boswell Pittsylvania County Philip Broadfoot City of Danville-Police Department Betty Bryant Pittsylvania County Emergency Management Michael Cholko VA Dept. of Environmental Quality J. D. Conner Virginia Department of Transportation James Davis Pittsylvania County Emergency Management Steve Dishman City of Danville-Fire Department Tim Duffer Regional One Barry Dunkley City of Danville-Utilities David Eagle City of Danville-Fire Department Laura Gateley Pitts. Co./Danville & Southside Health Department Bobbie Grogan Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute Otis Hawker Pittsylvania County Chris Loftis Virginia State Police Leslie Mace Virginia Department of Forestry Craig Motley Sartomer USA, LLC Donald Motley Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Paula Poston American Red Cross, Roanoke Chapter John Sherrill Commonwealth of Virginia William Sleeper Pittsylvania County Al Smith City of Danville Steve Smith American Red Cross Devin Taylor Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Brian Thurman Virginia Department of Emergency Management Eddie Walker Pittsylvania County Mary Yates Pittsylvania County Summary of Meeting:  Chairman David Eagle called the meeting to order at 12:00 pm. He then asked for a moment of silence to be given in honor of Danny Tate—LEPC, American Red Cross, and CERT member that passed away on September 30th.  After everyone had an opportunity to go through the buffet line, business began at 12:30 pm. Chief Eagle recognized three resigning members: Kelley Satterfield, Bernard Brown, and Lynette Nuckols.  Chief Eagle asked for the approval of the last meeting’s minutes, and they were approved following a motion from Barry Dunkley and seconded by Al Smith.  Chairman & vice chairman report: Chief Eagle stated that his comments would be included in the later discussions, and that the Vice Chairman was unable to attend the meeting.  Subcommittee reports: a. CERT Reports CERT activities reported by Al Smith and Eddie Walker included comments regarding:  Region 6 meetings that are held in Roanoke twice a year.  Meetings with Danville Community College to discuss their emergency operations plan.  The Great Shake Out scheduled for October 18th at 10:18 a.m. to strengthen earthquake awareness and preparedness.  CERT personnel to work Danville the Half Marathon 5K on October 27th.  Fifty-three students are currently enrolled in the new CERT Program including the Vo-Tech Center, Tunstall Middle School and Dan River Middle School. b. Hazmat reports  Assistant Fire Chief Dishman reported on a diesel spill that occurred October 5th in the City on 58 East and continued into the County on Kentuck Road.  The Propane Gas Association donated a transfer pump to the Danville Haz-Mat Team and was involved in the training for its use.  2012 Haz-Mat Conference is scheduled to be held in Hampton, Virginia October 15-19th.  Presentation / Discussion topics a. September 21st Table Top Exercise Steve Dishman gave an overview of a Table Top Exercise of Danville’s Emergency Operations Plan that was conducted September 21st. A contractor facilitated the exercise that involved a rail incident with possible terrorist influence that released hazardous materials. Approximately 30 individuals and organizations were involved in the exercise. Lessons learned included the need for enhanced communications and this is currently being reviewed. b. Notification System Discussion  Chief Eagle reported that the City is currently researching the old siren notification system and is questioning the need to reinstitute this system, or to go with more modern technology including emails, text messages, and notifications similar to the weather notifications that the National Weather Service sends out to a broad group of people.  Barry Dunkley discussed the boil water event that had occurred in the city and the lessons learned, including the acknowledgement that certain entities need to be notified before the general public, and that the message that is sent out needs to be clear and concise.  The need was noted of being able to better define who receives the messages. Also noted was the fact that not everyone has a computer, and that some are more adaptive to technology than others.  It was noted that the IBR Systems for Danville’s Electric Department will be able to do lot of the mentioned items once it is fully implemented.  Steve Dishman reported on the City’s Reversed Enhanced 911. The new features will include the capability to isolate a particular area for notification. The notifications will be brief and will provide information as to where to go for more specific guidance. The new system will also allow “tiered” notification, allowing smaller groups to be notified first. The system can provide tailored or canned messages.  Jim Davis reported that the county has a contracted hosted system with no equipment on site. The system notifies everyone within the 911 data base, and also those that have signed up their cell phones or email to be notified. Last year the county added an automatic weather alert notification component. When an emergency is announced by the National Weather Service, everyone within the storm’s path that has signed up is notified. This system also notifies everyone in a county school or government office whose address is in the storm’s path. Jim Davis also briefly touched on new FCC regulations that will begin in the near future whereas everyone can be tracked based upon cell phone technology. Regardless of location, if there is an emergency the cell phone will ring, to provide emergency alerts.  It was noted that the county does not have a siren system; but one problem with this system is that if it sounds, residents would still not know what the emergency is and would have to find other methods to learn more information. Topography would also be a problem, increasing the number of sirens needed to alert everyone. Only one known local business—Dan Chem—has a siren system that alerts personnel of chemical emergencies. c. Myles Barton reported that the EPA will sponsor a regional hazmat exercise, sometime between April 15 and May 15th. Brian Thurman of VDEM described the proposed scenario and invited participants.  The next LEPC meeting is scheduled for December 13th, 2012 at C&E’s Restaurant, 2201 West Gretna Road, Gretna, VA, 12:00 pm.  Chief Eagle adjourned the meeting at 1:15 pm, and advised that immediately following there would be a meeting with EPA on the Spring haz-mat exercise and anyone interested was invited to attend.