Commissioners to form Emergency Preparedness Committee
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Klamath County Commissioners have agreed to form an Emergency Preparedness Committee to grow community preparedness regarding potential catastrophic events such as the Cascadia earthquake expected to hit off the Oregon coast sometime in the future.
This announcement follows a very successful Cascadia preparedness event that took place at the Ross Ragland Theater, on Saturday, November 2nd. The event attracted 650 area citizens and created a strong buzz in the community with many people expressing a desire to have more information and see continued focus on emergency preparedness work for a variety of disaster situations.
"The community response was incredible, and I have had a number of people ask us to continue to do more to prepare for this anticipated event," Boyd said. "Catastrophic Cascadia quakes occur off the coast of Oregon about every 245 years," Boyd added. "And the last one occurred 320 years ago, so from a geological standpoint, we are due," he stated.
Commissioner Boyd emphasized that the intent is not to scare local citizens, but to increase knowledge about what to expect and encourage people to acquire and properly store preparedness items in their homes and vehicles. "Depending on which catastrophic event may strike our community let's be sure that Basin folks have sufficient food and water and other vital tools to get through any service disruptions we might experience."
Commissioner Boyd further stated that he was asking Brandon Fowler, Emergency Manager for Klamath County and Brandon Thueson, Division Chief Fire Marshall for Klamath County Fire District 1, to serve as co¬ chairs of the Emergency Preparedness Committee. Both Fowler and Thueson have extensive experience in a variety of emergency preparedness situations.
“The public response to the Tipping Point Resilience event has shown the citizens of Klamath County have a strong desire for greater knowledge around emergency preparedness for both their families and businesses. We want to look at more public education events centered around different situations concerning emergency preparedness” said Fowler
“There are very talented individuals which this project can bring together to collaborate on ways to enhance awareness, preparedness and response to disasters which might affect our area.” “We hope to provide the community the means to better prepare themselves, their families and their neighborhoods in the event of a disaster. We may not be able to predict when an event will occur, but there is a level of comfort that comes from being prepared.” “No one person can do it all, it takes everyone to make a community safe,” indicated Thueson.
Commissioner Boyd said that he would work with Fowler and Thueson to fill out the committee with local experts from first responder organizations and larger community organizations that should work together to help maximize safety and preparedness. "We have a number of experts in our community with a wealth of experience in emergency preparedness arenas, so getting a strong committee together will not be difficult," Boyd added.
Boyd encourages citizens who would like to participate on the Emergency Preparedness Committee to submit an application at:
Press release provided by Klamath County Commissioners.
