MOUNT VERNON — When temperatures plunge or rise drastically, residents immediately ask whether officials or organizations will open a warming center or cooling station.
Making that decision is not easy, as the recent frigid temperatures illustrate.
A week before the forecasted polar plunge arrived, Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Amy Seward told agency partners that EMA would not activate a warming station. She asked them to let EMA know if they planned to open, but received no response.
Residents emailed and called EMA asking whether it would open a warming station.
“We understand cold weather,” EMA Director J.T. DeChant told the county commissioners on Thursday. “Some are volunteers, some are older volunteers who don’t want to be out in the weather either.
“But we got to a point there was enough chatter that we thought we should do something.”
EMA contacted Knox Public Health, and KPH opened a warming center on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at its Upper Gilchrist Road location. As of 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, no one had arrived.
DeChant acknowledged the location on the outskirts of town might have affected the turnout.
“That’s where they had the available staff and space, so that’s always a hot topic,” he said. “But we also realize what happens when you open is some places are tasking somebody with other duties to sit and watch and monitor, and then nobody shows up.”
KPH announced the warming center on Facebook, and several organizations shared the post.
DeChant said Richland County quickly opened shelters but, within two days, sent out a call for volunteers to man them.
Similarly, he said fire departments are willing to open shelters but have to assign the task of monitoring the shelter to someone who was supposed to be on a truck.
Warming center task force
EMA does not have a policy about opening warming shelters or cooling stations. It bases its mandated activation on electric power.
“If we know there’s going to be extended power outage, that’s a 6 to 8 or 10- to 12-hour extended power outage, that’s when we’re going to say we need this, we have to have this in the community,” DeChant said.
“Again, that’s where certain folks might be able to assist with some staffing.”
However, he and Seward have discussed a warming and cooling center task force similar to Licking County, where a board decides whether to open a shelter.
“We’ve kind of kicked that idea around whether we do that or not,” DeChant said.
“Because we’re going to be facing this in another six months in June and we get that first hot spell at 95 degrees,” Seward pointed out. “Do we need to open cooling stations, or don’t we need to open them?
“It’s such a touchy and tough subject of what do we do? Because we’re not out on the streets to know is there really a need? We’re not in that social service aspect, but we’re here to help them coordinate it.”
Other EMA news
Knox County EMA is working with the National Weather Service in Cleveland to pilot a weather awareness and reporting program for dispatchers.
DeChant said Knox County 911 dispatchers want to take the SkyWarn training to learn what questions to ask callers during weather events so the NWS can send out alerts earlier.
Knox County is advising Crawford County EMA and their school resource officers on school reunification plans. Crawford County’s school population is similar to Knox County’s but is closer in proximity.
A tabletop training exercise with the health care coalition simulated a chlorine spill. The Mount Vernon Fire Department, high school, health department, and Knox Community Hospital participated.
EMA is working with Richland, Marion, Morrow, and Ashland counties to coordinate a regional Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). None of the counties currently have someone to step up and coordinate their respective volunteer groups.
During an event, CERT members assist EMA with traffic control, feeding stations, and similar tasks.
