West Stockbridge — As part of a new initiative created by Andrew Potter, who took the helm of the Select Board on May 14, the town’s three-year-old Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) was under the microscope during the group’s August 26 meeting. Once the proposed changes are incorporated into the document, the Select Board will have one last crack at the plan before approving the updated version. The 2021 CEMP can be found here.
Potter’s “meet and confer” program is intended to advance one-topic conversations among relevant stakeholders.
Created in 2021, the CEMP details “what happens once a disaster is declared,” explained Emergency Management Director Lou Oggiani. That action includes floods, hurricanes, terrorism, and other threats to the safety and welfare of the town and its residents. The local process is patterned after the federal government’s response plan and national system command center. Using the town’s resources—police, fire, emergency services, public works, health, highway, and sewer departments—as main responders, the plan outlines the procedure by which these officials, in conjunction with state and federal agencies, can “prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover” from disasters.
“I thought it might be time to take another look at it,” Potter said of the plan. “We’ve had some events that have occurred in the meantime, not necessarily where we had to activate the emergency plan, but potentially [events] we could address.”
Should an emergency hit West Stockbridge, the Select Board has the power to declare a disaster, putting the terms of the CEMP in place, and, if necessary, to begin evacuations from its borders. The primary evacuation routes are: Stockbridge (State Route 102), State Line (State Route 102), Great Barrington (State Route 41), and Albany (State Route 41) roads. The secondary evacuation routes include Swamp, Lenox, and West Center roads.
The command center for an incident is Town Hall, and local officials may coordinate with representatives of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) located in Agawam, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“I can visualize the way this would work,” Oggiani said of the procedure. “Maybe not so much just West Stockbridge, but it would be a regional area because if there’s something big enough to happen, it’s probably not going to just affect us.”
The system was tested when a tornado was in the area and during a visit from a former president’s wife, he said. However, Oggiani counts a Williams River dam break among the biggest potential threats to the town as the waterway flows directly through the downtown area where many homes and businesses lie. The plan specifies that, as of 2021, eight businesses and about 40 residents would be impacted by the event.
The plan cites technological hazards, such as stored hazardous materials, gases, and toxins “capable of causing an impact” in West Stockbridge. Hazard sites include William Kie Auto Repair and Troy’s Garage (diesel, gasoline, motor oil, battery acid), as well as Route 41 construction and excavating companies; trucking and landscaping businesses on Baker Street; and town property such as the wastewater treatment plant, Department of Public Works, and the town salt shed. Due to its proximity to the Massachusetts Turnpike where hazardous materials could be transported, the plan lists Route 41 (south), Stockbridge Road (east), Main Street, and Swamp Road as branches of transportation networks that could see a disaster.
Fire Chief Steve Traver commented that the potential for transportation disaster stemming from the state highway was lessened when toll booths on the route were removed, eliminating stops and the possibility of truck brakes failing and tank disasters.
Select Board members questioned what hazards may be traveling through the area by rail, with Police Chief Marc Portieri agreeing to look into that information to incorporate into the plan update. Potter touted that the group should also include a list of key players in the case of a disaster—Select Board members, town administrator, representatives of institutions, and managers of critical infrastructure—and their contact information.
“A good plan is one that has been reviewed,” Potter said of the CEMP. “An emergency management plan should be a dynamic document that is regularly looked at.”
