Emergency drill declared a success in River Heights
March 28th, 2010 Posted in OpinionBy Tyson Thorpe
RIVER HEIGHTS–A successful test of the city’s emergency plan was conducted Saturday morning.
“Anytime we do this, I think it’s successful because we actually do something,” said Kathryn Hadfield, councilwoman over community affairs. She said goals were set for this year’s test and they were reached successfully.
One of the goals was to contact all the residences in the city and find out which residents had and which needed flags, Hadfield said. The flags are red and green and are placed on residents’ front doors during an emergency. Red means that help is needed and green the opposite.
Most people participated in the test and put their flags out, Hadfield said. Only about one-fourth to one-third did not place flags on their doors, she said. Being out of town, misplacing the flags, or forgetting about the drill were most likely the reasons for some residents not placing flags on their doors.
Those that forgot about the test were at first confused when they heard sirens throughout the city.
“I thought another ambulance was lost or something,” Diane Peterson said of the sirens.
Hadfield said other goals included updating family and block captain information, including the Cache County Sheriff’s Office, testing the usage of radios in reporting the situation around the city, and appointing Quentin Gardner, a city resident and HAM radio operator, over emergency communications for the city.
In the future the plan will involve having area supervisors and block captains trained and coordinated in reporting on River Heights’ residents, Hadfield said. She said she hopes to have back-ups for those positions as well.
“It’s a way to look after each other in an organized way,” Hadfield said of the city emergency plan. “If you can get help to people quickly, then you can save lives.”
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Tags: emergency drill, River Heights
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