|
Wake Forest does have and has had a plan
to deal with emergencies, but the
explosions, fire and evacuation in Apex
last week have them looking at the plan
anew on Wednesday morning to see if it
needs to be updated.
Some of the people looking
at the emergency plan were Police Chief
Greg Harrington, town fire marshal Al
Pruitt and head building inspector Bruce
Daniels.
There are no businesses in
Wake Forest similar to the Environmental
Quality plant in Apex, which collected
hazardous materials and transferred them
on for disposal or remanufacture.
However, Fire Chief Jerry
Swift said there could be materials
hidden away they are not aware of and
hazardous materials could be nearby at
any time. “Anything can ride up and down
Capital Boulevard.”
There are always tanker
trucks that are marked as being
flammable that could hold caustics and
acids, Swift said. As for the
semi-trailers, “There could be a mix of
hazardous materials in any of those
trucks.”
If one of those overturns or
is involved in a collision, “We could
have a situation similar to Apex. There
could be a cloud [of a dangerous gas]
and we could have to evacuate some
people.
“A meth lab is the same
thing,” Swift said. If one is found, the
fire department and other emergency
officials “would have to evacuate the
areas around the house or building
because those chemicals are very
unstable.”
A fire could also cause a
wider emergency. “If we had a major fire
in a building, even one without
hazardous materials, we might have to
evacuate people nearby because the smoke
coming of something burning is toxic.
Swift said he put together
some individual emergency plans earlier
this year for the Fourth of July
fireworks display and for Tropical Storm
Ernesto.
There is a group headed by
Captain Eric Mohn, head of A shift at
Station #1, working on a complete
emergency plan covering all the
eventualities they can imagine. Swift
said he is part of that group, one of
several task groups he has assembled to
deal with different aspects of
department management and response.
In the case of a large
emergency situation similar to the one
in Apex, Swift and Town Manager Mark
Williams both said, Wake County’s
emergency management team would take the
lead and call in help from state and
federal agencies if needed.
Williams said the fire
department would probably be the first
to recognize an emergency. “Typically
they’re going to be the first
responders. They would contact us.” |
