Fire Cadets Learn About Disaster Response

The Johns Creek Fire Department maintains a constant state of readiness to respond to fires on a moment’s notice.

But preplanning and response protocol for natural and man-made disasters is another facet of emergency response operations JCFD personnel is tasked to handle.

Tornadoes. Floods. Blizzards. HAZMAT. Zombie apocalypse.

No matter how far-fetched the threat may be, JCFD goes Code Red and Stations 61, 62 and 63 roll hot when public safety’s on the line during a mass emergency event.

And that’s where the city of Johns Creek’s emergency response framework enters the arena.

Everything from mass disbursement of antidotes for chemical or biological agents introduced into the environment to directives for hurricane or flood evacuation routes all are emergency response functions that fall outside the direct scope of the fire department but are then taken up by the city’s emergency response framework team.

It’s an often-overlooked but crucial function of local government – unless and until catastrophe strikes.

“The local government is where the rubber meets the road,” said Johns Creek communications director Grant Hickey. “You’ll have the city’s emergency operations center coordinating with fire, police, public works and other emergency agencies should an event arise that may threaten public safety.”

“It’s about the whole city, a bunch of different agencies from the county to state on up to the federal level if needed, all coming together as a unit to combine resources. It’s really something,” added city fire marshal and JCFD division chief Chad McGiboney.

The inaugural Johns Creek Citizen Fire Academy class reached its penultimate course instruction Tuesday night at Station 62.

Led by Hickey and McGiboney, cadets learned about city of Johns Creek emergency disaster operations and how its internal and external communications and support divisions coalesce emergency prevention and rescue operations here.

The eight-week academy offers ordinary citizens extraordinary access to JCFD front-end operations. And it’s open to all adult Johns Creek residents who can pass a criminal background check and commit to the course schedule. A formal graduation ceremony is scheduled for July 30 at Station 62 at 6:30 p.m.

Rewind to Jan. 10, 2011.

Some called it "Snowmaggedon." Others: "Snowpocalypse."

However colloquial, the nor’easter blanketed the metro area with record-breaking snowfall.

Georgia’s infrastructure was crippled; not just from the snowfall itself but also from melting and refreeze in the days that followed.

Metro Atlanta’s commerce and populace was as frozen in place as the ice-glazed roadways themselves.

People were trapped.

Emergency responders scrambled. A crush of 911 calls ranging from stranded motorists – who soon learned that many of the emergency responders they had called upon to save them were themselves stranded – to homebound elderly residents who had no power to heat their homes.

Interagency communications were the crucial component in getting the roadways clear and people back on terra firma, Hickey said.

Like everywhere else, Johns Creek, still a relatively fledgling North Fulton County municipality, had its challenges cut out.

But an action plan was already in place days before the first snowflake fluttered from the sky, Hickey said.

JCOEM – Johns Creek Office Of Emergency Management – was tracking National Weather Service data as the nor’easter barreled across the eastern United States on its Doppler Radar blotting collision course with the coastline.

An emergency operations center was established at an area hotel 10 days leading into the storm’s arrival, Hickey said, where all essential city workers and department heads hunkered down to brace for the worst.

Of the four recognized levels in Johns Creek emergency operations framework, with "Normal Day-to-Day" being the least severe to full activation requiring outside agency intervention for a Level 1 event, Snowmaggedon activated a Level 2 response.

City Hall’s communications office, including Johns Creek city manager John Katchmar in his ad hoc position as JCOEM director; public works managers; two full-time Johns Creek police and two fire department commanders; plus a litany of support staff worked 72 straight hours into the storm, Hickey said, monitoring field operations and public safety sectors throughout the city.

“I mean we really put in some hours on that one,” Hickey recalled. “That’s something we won’t soon forget.”

The city’s blizzard action plan was so effective that it even snagged a photo and cutline from The New York Times

“Ultimately though, each person has a responsibility to have a disaster plan of their own,” Hickey said. “Whether it’s putting on bicycle helmets and taking cover in the basement during a tornado watch, or having a supply of drinking water on hand, everyone needs to take personal responsibility. The best help is helping yourself.”

 The City of Johns Creek maintains an opt-in email subscription service on its website that includes automated weather and emergency advisory alerts.

To sign up, log on to www.johnscreekga.gov/online/forms/subscribe and choose the "News Flashes" alerts box.

Johns Creek Citizens Fire Academy culminates July 28 with Fire Ground Training. Cadets will attend a live and interactive exercise at Roswell’s burn building training facility. They’ll also witness an EMT vehicle extrication scenario allowing students hands-on experiences with various types of rescue equipment.

Check back with Johns Creek Patch to see who makes it through.

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