MAHONING COUNTY Disaster agency's mission grows

The agency has a new $150,000 mobile command truck.
YOUNGSTOWN -- WMD is now CBRNE.
Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been expanded to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) threats, said Walter M. Duzzny, Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency director.
Duzzny said terror threats gathered by Homeland Security agencies have a "top-down" delivery system. The threats filter down to local communities.
In the reverse, local communities have a "bottom-up" delivery system. When someone calls 911 with a disaster of any kind, the word gets passed to a first responder -- police and fire departments -- then beyond, Duzzny explained.
With that scenario in mind, the federal government expanded threats of WMD to the all-encompassing CBRNE, he said.
To prepare for terrorism, the county received $932,382 for fiscal 2004. The federal government tells the county how to spend it -- for equipment, planning, training and exercises. Only $27,971 goes to pay administrative costs; the bulk of it, $811,411, goes for equipment.
A CBRNE advisory group decides, based on the federal mission to combat terrorism, what to buy. Items purchased can include protective equipment, communications devices, decontamination materials and others.
"There's a laundry list," Duzzny said.
Some examples:
U The Mahoning County Fire Chiefs Association got $84,000 to buy meters that monitor gas leaks.
U The Haz-Mat team got $21,000 for a decontamination kit.
U The Youngstown Police Department Bomb Squad will soon receive a $126,000 bomb containment vessel and $150,000 bomb equipment truck.
U Mahoning County got two mass-casualty trailers for $64,000, one stored in Boardman and one in Sebring.
The CBRNE advisory group includes Haz-Mat; Mahoning County Sheriff's Department dive team; law enforcement and fire services; postal inspectors; medical facilities; Youngstown State University; utilities; the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force's Critical Response Team, which has representatives from the U.S. Marshals Service; Help Hotline; Mahoning County Jobs and Family Services; and the Homebuilders' Association.
The CBRNE group meets quarterly to consider requests for Homeland Security money. The group facilitator is Chuck Coleman of Canfield, a retired Air Force colonel and engineer.
A small screening committee applies a numerical rating to each request for money and presents the list to the group.
Duzzny said the requests for equipment outnumber the dollars available. Everything bought must be made available to everyone in the county.
New command truck
The emergency agency director then led the way to the new $150,000 Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency mobile command truck parked in the garage on Industrial Road, also purchased with federal funds.
The 37-foot white truck, delivered a week ago from its Columbus manufacturer, replaces the 20-year-old 22-foot black truck that has served as a mobile command post for six years. The new truck will get outfitted with phones and radios within 10 days.
To get Homeland Security funds, Mahoning County has to show a need and planning documents that detail how the need will be met. Duzzny said the federal government has a national response plan, but each state must have its own Homeland Security plan. Each county in each state must have an emergency operations plan.
Hazards and disasters
To comply, Mahoning County had to complete a terror hazard analysis, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency decided, "while you're at it, include the possibility of natural disasters," Duzzny said.
"In reality, what we have to have is an all-hazard assessment."
Aside from the possibility of terrorism, the assessment includes anything that would impair the quality of life, Duzzny said.
"Pick a threat -- the shuttle falling from the sky, like it did in the southwest -- and plan for it," he said. "We wouldn't plan for a tidal wave from the Atlantic Ocean that breaches the Allegheny Mountains; what could you ever do? We try to use common sense."
Duzzny said Mahoning County's critical facilities list, meanwhile, classified for security reasons, gets fed into a Homeland Security database. If a threat occurs -- for example, to a nuclear power plant -- federal officials scan the database and notify all possible locales.
Crowds considered
Events that draw big crowds for special events also are fed into the database. Duzzny declined to say what type of events qualify for Mahoning County but added they're not difficult to figure out.
"Why all the secrecy? Because we don't want to give anyone ideas, we don't want to tempt any terrorists."
He called the county's 1,200-page emergency plan a "living document" because it continually is being updated and revised.
After 22 years on the job, Duzzny says he finally has much-needed assistance with the full-time assignment of sheriff's Capt. James M. Lewandowski.
Earlier this month, Sheriff Randall A. Wellington, in a general order to all personnel, said he wants his department to be prepared to respond to the increasing possibility "of disasters of unprecedented size and destructiveness." The sheriff then named Lewandowski commander of the newly formed Emergency Preparedness Unit (EPU) and transferred him to Duzzny's complex.
Planning for the worst
The EPU will plan for fires, earthquakes, chemical situations, explosions, bombs, civil disturbances, utility failures, sabotage, violent criminal behavior in group or gang structures and more.
Lewandowski's order says he must develop a plan compatible with Duzzny's agency. The assignment includes budget projections for start up and operations.
"Before you have people in the unit, you need a plan for the unit," Duzzny said of Lewandowski's mission. "As an example, let's say there's an immediate need at a facility for law enforcement protection. What's the plan to have people respond? That's the kind of thing Capt. Lewandowski is doing."
Lewandowski has to go through a whole cycle of assessment for the entire county and how the EPU fits into the master plan. Duzzny said the captain "brings to the table a lot of experience and knowledge and is skilled in research and planning."
Lewandowski's office is in the massive garage that houses controls for the county's emergency warning sirens and alerts.
Training offered
Duzzny said there's also a need to instruct regular folk in emergency preparedness and, with that goal in mind, his building offers training for The Citizens Corps. Anyone interested in the 16- to 20-hour course can call (330) 740-2200.
He said community response teams will teach survival skills to residents, with 700 trained so far. He called it a neighborhood initiative and said it is advertised as "Warriors on the Homefront."
Duzzny said The Citizens Corps is all about what "John Q. Public" is doing for safety. Do citizens have water? Food? Flashlights? Cell phone? A plan where to meet family members if they can't go home?
He said that, in the first few hours of a major emergency, there aren't enough police and firefighters to go around.
The county's emergency management building on Industrial Road is self sufficient, with showers and a 72-hour food supply. It has its own self-contained power supply. Banks of red phones are labeled for police, fire, human services, transportation, sanitary engineer, county engineer and others.
"This is very serious business, because of the consequences," Duzzny said.