(KNSI) — The Minnesota Department of Public Safety is hailing the importance of local immediate emergency notification networks after a train derailment in Raymond on March 30th.
Community Emergency Response Team members jumped into action just before 2:00 a.m., roughly an hour after 23 cars derailed. Some of the tanker cars hauling denatured ethanol started on fire, and an evacuation of the entire town was ordered. The group knocked on doors with police and firefighters and helped some 800 residents get to safety.
CERT members are volunteers who live in the communities they serve and are trained by local public safety agencies. They work with officials and each other to make sure everyone’s needs are met in the immediate aftermath of an emergency.
Stearns County no longer has a CERT squad, but that doesn’t mean area residents are vulnerable.
Emergency Manager Erin Tufte says they use a mass notification system called Rave to get the public actionable information. “We would be able to do messages that went out via email, landline, cell phone, text message, that would provide people with information on what happened, where it happened, and what we need them to do. We would use that first and foremost.”
The message would go to anyone connected to a cell phone tower closest to the disaster. Stearns County residents can also sign up to get several notifications through its website, regardless of where they are.
She says if there’s a hazardous chemical leak or toxic train derailment in the middle of the night, they can lean on local police and firefighters. “We would use our public safety officials through mutual aid, including their reserve programs, to be able to help with those door-to-door notifications.”
Those programs could include the sheriff’s explorers unit.
Tufte says they can also turn to the Minnesota Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster to help coordinate response and bring manpower. “We’d have people like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities. There’s a group called Team Rubicon, that is all veterans. Nakama is a Jewish organization that does a lot with debris clearance. There’s feeding [programs], mental health groups, sheltering, a wide variety of topics that we would be able to access by reaching out to that MNVODA group.”
The response will depend on the nature of the event and the duration. For example, in the event of a plane crash, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have very specific regulations. One of the agencies they work with is the Red Cross because they are chartered to be able to provide for family assistance centers and reunification during a plane-related incident.
The county’s emergency plan calls for them to collaborate with the St. Cloud Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and the United Way. Some of them may be previous CERT members.
Tufte says around 150 people help revise the area’s comprehensive emergency plan to ensure they’re prepared for anything that might happen. “And it takes all of us. It’s local government. It’s private industry. It’s our non government organizations. It’s the people who live and work in the community and that partnership in order to keep us as safe as possible.”
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KNSI News reporter Jake Judd contributed to this story.
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