YOUNGSTOWN Safety officials to revise list of equipment needed for attack

The group wants to ask other area counties to help fund the Youngstown bomb squad.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Local safety officials are ready to revise the list of equipment they think is needed to respond to a chemical or nuclear-weapon attack in Mahoning County.
Walt Duzzny, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, said the county's Weapons of Mass Destruction Working Group is expected to update its needs plan in January and February.
The plan, created in March and April 1999, lists the equipment local safety officials say they need to respond to an attack.
The group discussed the revision at a meeting Tuesday morning.
"It's a total upgrade," he said. "We want to re-assess what our needs are."
The federal government uses the plan to decide how federal money should be spent on emergency equipment in Mahoning County.
Duzzny noted that when the plan was created, the group's primary concern was to equip county agencies to respond to an attack by a foreign government.
That changed on Sept. 11, 2001, he said.
Now, the group wants to determine the equipment needs of local police and fire departments, Duzzny said. He noted that local fire and police departments also need equipment to respond to accidental chemical spills.
"We're shifting directions a little," Duzzny said.
Bomb squad
On Tuesday, the group also discussed how regionalization has affected emergency response in the area. Duzzny said that the Youngstown Police bomb squad serves several counties outside of Mahoning County.
The squad, however, doesn't receive money from those counties, Duzzny said. He said the group may try to get funding from the other counties for the bomb squad.
The group also talked about:
UDetermining how many local safety officials could receive the smallpox vaccine.
UEnsuring that new equipment gets to safety officials quickly.
UAsking safety officials who have responded to an attack by a weapon of mass destruction to help train local safety officials.
hill@vindy.com