By Greg Walsh,
Managing Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – If there’s anyone looking forward the end of the 2009 hurricane season it’s Jim Corbin.
That’s because when Nov. 30 rolls around, it will mean only about six months are left before the county’s new Emergency Operations Center should be completed.
“Once we get that operational we can say where we where we need to be,” said Corbin, the Clay County Emergency Management director. “It’s under construction as we speak. They are clearing the ground and bringing in fill dirt.”
Currently house in the Clay County Fire Rescue offices in Green Cove Springs, emergency management will move into the $5.1 million, 2,600-square-feet structure at the Clay County Fairgrounds when completed in May 2010.
Otherwise, Corbin said the county’s emergency personnel, communications and planning are prepared as well possible entering the season that annually puts Florida in the path of damaging – and sometimes deadly – storms.
“It gets better each year and each time we go through an event. Clay County residents are real fortunate that all the agencies have a spirit of cooperation,” he said. “When a disaster happens it’s all hands on deck.”
A primary concern is making certain all the county’s residents with special medical needs have been identified and registered with emergency management officials. That allows officials to begin preparing well in advance, Corbin said.
“There are always more out there than we know about. We jus t don’t know how big that pie is. We have about 250 who registered, and figure there are about half that number that we still don’t know about,” he said. “We need to know how many they are and where they are.”
Registration forms, which must be filled out annually, are online at www.claycountygov.com/Departments/Public_Safety/SpecialNeedsRegistration2009.pdf. The complete application can be faxed to (904) 529-2273.
Further information is also available by calling 284-8735 or sending an email to Wanda.Mosley@co.clay.fl.us.
Law enforcement and emergency responders will also be at Fleming Island High School’s Teacher Training Center on Saturday, June 13, to provide hurricane and disaster preparation information to the public.
“It’s for the public to come out and see how we work together,” said Community Emergency Response Team coordinator John Ward.
The CERT program, which trains citizens how to be first responders in disasters, currently has 180 volunteers who have taken the eight-week course. Ward would like to see more.
“How many people does the county have in it? 170,000. I would like to have everybody trained. Even if they don’t continue with the program, if everyone had their disaster kit ready we would be great for the first 72 hours (after a hurricane),” he said.
CERT volunteers would be essential in the first 24 hours after a disaster, assisting, fire suppression, disaster medical operations and light search/ rescue, Ward said. Later they would work water distribution centers and handle other non-emergency tasks.
Clay County’s CERT program, which was recently certified by the state Emergency Management Agency, will hold two upcoming training sessions. Class 2 begins Thursday, June 4, and runs to July 23. It will meet 6:30-9 p.m. at the Lake Asbury Community Center, 282 Branscomb Road, Green Cove Springs.
Class 3 will be held Sept. 1-Oct. 20 at the Orange Park Fire Station, 2025 Smith St., and will meet 6:30-9 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Call Ward at (904) 219-0640 or email him at john.ward@co.clay.fl.us. Registrants should provide their name, address, telephone number, email address and the class they want to attend.
• Clay High School
2025 State Road 16 West. Green Cove Springs
• Lake Asbury Junior High
2851 Sandridge Road, Green Cove Springs
• Clay Hill Elementary
6345 County Road 218, Middleburg
• Keystone Heights Junior/Senior High
900 SW Orchid Ave., Keystone Heights
• RideOut Elementary
3065 Apalachicola Blvd., Middleburg
• Argyle Elementary
2625 Spencer Plantation Blvd., Orange Park
• Montclair Elementary
2398 Moody Avenue, Orange Park
• Orange Park High School
2300 Kingsley Avenue, Orange Park
Disaster kit
· Water
· Food - at least enough for 3 to 7 days
o Non-perishable packaged or canned food / juices
o Snack foods
o Non-electric can opener
o Cooking tools / fuel
o Paper plates / plastic utensils
· Flashlights and portable, self-powered light sources
· Portable radios, two-way radios and NOAA weather-band radios
· Flexible waterproof sheeting (tarps)
· Gas or diesel fuel containers
· Batteries
· Medications
· Ice chests or other food storage coolers
· Portable generators
· Carbon monoxide detectors
· Storm shutter devices
· Pet carrier and supplies
August 23rd 2010 - 6:07AM