Behind the scenes: EMA manages emergency response

WILLIAMSBURG — Iowa County Emergency Management is in the process of renewing a radio maintenance contract and has entered 28E agreements to test weather sirens for Iowa County towns.

But what exactly is an emergency management agency and what does it do for county residents?

The agency actually began as civil defense during the Cold War, said Iowa County EMA Director Josh Humphrey. In the 1960s, the agencies began focusing on natural disasters. They expanded to technological disasters in the 1970s and 1980s and in the 1990s became involved in trying to mitigate all hazards.

Terrorism became a focus after 9-11, said Humphrey.

Today EMA is centralized for all hazards responses. It’s the center of organization for public safety and works behind the scenes to coordinate emergency response teams.

Rescue 48

Iowa County is different from Iowa’s other 98 counties in that it has a rescue unit outside of its fire departments, said Humphrey.

Rescue 48 (Iowa County is the 48th of Iowa’s 99 Counties alphabetically) has equipment for extraction from vehicles, rope rescue and grain bin rescues, said Humphrey.

Rescue 48 is sent to car accidents and to hazardous material situations. It also has a dive team for water search and rescue.

EMA is financially responsible for Rescue 48. Thirty volunteers respond to calls. Many are police officers or firefighters, said Humphrey, but some aren’t with another agency.

Most have had Firefighter I training. Some have had rescue training. Some are emergency medical technicians, and some are paramedics.

Many have been with the rescue team for a long time, said Humphrey. Mike McBride retired last year after 40 years.

“You only have so may people who want to do these things,” said Humphrey, so many of them wear multiple hats.

A lot of counties fund equipment, but they don’t have dedicated teams like Iowa County has, said Humphrey.

School safety

Emergency Management walks through schools every couple of years to evaluate their safety plans, not just for intruders but for all hazards, including safety plans in case of tornadoes or fires, said Humphrey.

Right now EMA is testing the CrisisGo app which allows schools to coordinate with emergency agencies for real-time alerts, incident management and parent notification.

Over the years, EMA has identified a need for more accurate accounting for students in emergency situations, said Humphrey. CrisisGo allows schools to see which students are in attendance each day and where they are during an emergency situation.

Schools use Blackboard, Infinite Campus and other programs to take attendance. CrisisGo interfaces with these applications “so every day we know who’s at school and who’s not,” said Humphrey. It’s an exciting piece of emergency management.

Iowa County EMA is working to get CrisisGo in all school districts in the county. EMA pays for it, so its free to the schools, said Humphrey.

Williamsburg School Superintendent Chad Garber has put in a lot of work on it, Humphrey said. CrisisGo is in Williamsburg and HLV school districts now, and EMA is working with Iowa Valley and English Valleys to implement it in those districts.

Former Williamsburg Police Chief Justin Parsons was very involved with it, said Humphrey. Williamsburg was kind of the initial driver for it.

Business evaluation

EMA does site assessments for private businesses that request it, said Humphrey. “OSHA requires businesses to have an emergency plan,” he said. EMA will look over the plans, tour the businesses and make recommendations.

Communications

EMA helps manage the communication dispatch system. Funds from the 911 system pays for dispatch equipment. Calls for service are generated by dispatchers through a computer program which EMA manages, said Humphrey.

Everyone has computers in their cars, said Humphrey. EMA keeps those operating.

The county’s 10-year contract with RACOM Critical Communications is coming to an end, and EMA is in the process of negotiating a new maintenance contract and replacement of equipment.

Radios are computers, said Humphrey. No one keeps a computer for 10 years.

The maintenance contract with RACOM requires that company to keep things going for the duration of the contract. Now the county has to replace equipment that’s at its end of life, Humphrey said.

EMA has been using cellphones as well as pagers and will continue to do so, Humphrey said. It keeps redundancies in its system to avoid communication outages during emergencies.

During the derecho, “We only had the radio,” said Humphrey.

County Supervisors issued bonds for the initial system in 2016, said Humphrey. The county can’t bond for maintenance, so EMA has funded that.

Iowa County’s communications system was built in 2001, said Humphrey. In 2011, the FCC made everyone switch radios to a narrow band width which reduced the power and required more towers.

Iowa County went from two VHF towers to five towers in 2016 to give full coverage of the county and beyond, Humphrey said.

The county considered using the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System radio network, but it’s built for outdoor car radios which are more powerful than handheld radios and has bigger batteries and broader reach, said Humphrey.

But the system Iowa County uses works better for other situations, said Humphrey. “We can be in homes” which is where personnel will be in medical emergencies or fires.

The system Iowa County uses takes in 15 counties. The brain of the operation is located in Linn County. It’s a $1 million piece of equipment that Iowa County doesn’t have to pay for, said Humphrey.

There’s another brain in Johnson County and another with RACOM in Marshall County.

EMA is connected to Iowa County dispatch anywhere in the 15-county area.

All towers have batteries and generators. RACOM constantly monitors them to make sure everything’s working. “You don’t get that with any other system,” Humphrey said.

When Iowa County was on its own system, someone sometimes had to go out and kick the generator — literally.

Sally Hall, the county 911 coordinator “was very helpful in getting this new system,” said Humphrey. “We couldn’t go back to what we had before.” It’s a public safety risk.

“It costs a lot of money, but I think the safety … of our citizens is worth it,” said Humphrey. Without out, “we would be neglecting our people.”

Storm sirens

EMA has always been the go-to for tornado sirens, said Humphrey. He has 25 weather spotters who watch the skies during bad weather.

“We’re lined up on the western side of the county and the southern side of the county.

Rural communities don’t have sirens, but the county can activate alerts through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Humphrey said.

EMA recently entered 28E agreements with towns to test the sirens for problems. A computer sends a signal to the sirens and tells if something is wrong with it.

Towns and the Amana Society pay for their tornado siren towers, but EMA can monitor them in real time.

EMA conducts a monthly test the first Sunday at 6 p.m.

Dispatch activates the sirens for winds over 70 miles per hour, hail of ¾ inches or larger, tornado warnings and funnel clouds, said Humphrey.

EMA listens to radio traffic in Poweshiek County “so we know what’s coming.” During the derecho, EMA was able to activate sirens early, he said.

FEMA

“We do need federal assistance,” said Humphrey.

Cities respond to whatever they can. When they run out of money, they call county. Supervisors can declare disasters and provide funds, said Humphrey.

Supervisors can request state money when disasters reach a certain level, and the state, when the disaster reaches about $4.3 million, request federal money.

That’s when FEMA gets activated and can supply money and equipment.

Humphrey has seen seven presidential disaster declarations in the 2012 years he’s been with Iowa County EMA. The county has seen 17 since 1993, he said.

Funding

EMA is funded by county supplemental funds, said Humphrey. It’s governed by a commission that sets rules for the agency.

EMA recently hired Chris Pankow to help Humphrey part time. His main job is keeping up the rescue unit and maintaining the equipment, Humphrey said.

“He’s been very helpful.”