A new blog gives Jefferson County residents updated information on weather conditions, roads and power outages — and Clallam County emergency management officials are considering adding such a service.
The blog at www.emergency-information.blogspot.com is the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management’s newest addition to its “community toolbox” to keep residents knowledgeable about severe weather and other emergencies, said Bob Hamlin, program manager.
The blog went up for the first time Tuesday. It will be activated only during emergencies.
“We were getting so many hits on our website, we decided to go to a blog format,” Hamlin said.
“We try to keep it to what’s going on locally.”
The blog is in addition to the department’s website at www.jeffcoeoc.org, alerts posted through Nixle and “situation report” e-mails sent to about 140 neighborhood preparedness groups organized through Local 20/20, a group working for sustainability — an effort that eventually reaches perhaps as many as 5,000 families, Hamlin said.
Emergency center
The website “is a little cumbersome,” Hamlin said.
“When we get real busy in the emergency operations center, we’re not getting information up in a timely way.”
The county activated its 24-hour emergency operations center — or EOC — on Monday, as a snowstorm pushed farther into the North Olympic Peninsula, and planned to run it through Wednesday, Hamlin said.
“I think it’s winding down,” he said of the snow and cold that prompted the activation.
Clallam County doesn’t have an emergency blog, but officials are considering it in the future, said Undersheriff Ron Peregrin, head of emergency management operations.
“We’re looking at a blog,” he said Wednesday. “Our [information technology] folks are looking at it.”
Weather, news posted
Clallam County emergency management personnel post weather, news and tips on its website at www.clallam.net/Emergency Management and send e-mail notices to people who signed up in the county block watch program through CrimeNet at www.CrimeNet.org, Peregrin said.
They also post alerts to Nixle, a free service.
Nixle registrations can define the geographic area of interest so that it isn’t necessary to get unwanted information, Peregrin said.
To sign up for Nixle, visit www.nixle.com.
Clallam County didn’t activate its emergency operations center this week, Peregrin said.
“We discussed whether we should call people in,” he said, “but all we had were some bad road conditions and people going home to hunker down.
“It wasn’t what we considered a real emergency yet,” he added, referring to Kitsap County’s situation with blocked roads and some 50,000 people without electrical power.
Outages in Clallam County were spotty, and though driving was tricky, no bad wrecks were reported.
“It only takes two trees to cut off the West End,” Peregrin said.
“We didn’t see that developing here. We were very, very fortunate.”
However, if the situation changes, the EOC — which is run primarily by volunteers — can be up and running in 30 minutes, Peregrin said.
Emergency personnel monitor a state emergency website, National Weather Service reports and the volume of calls into the PenCom dispatch center.
“We’re monitoring it minute by minute,” Peregrin said.
2 new radio stations
While Clallam County personnel are considering an emergency blog, Jefferson County workers are working with two radio stations that are expected to be on the air soon, Hamlin said.
KPTZ at 91.9 FM is slated to broadcast beginning later this winter, while KROH at 91.1 FM, a Christian radio station, is scheduled to be on the air by the spring.
“We’re working with the two new radio stations to do direct broadcasts from the emergency operations center” during severe weather or other crises, Hamlin said.
But for now, all seems relatively calm, if not idyllic.
“While the worst of this weather front appears to be over, the roads are still icy, and there are still spotty power outages,” Hamlin said.
“We frequently get windy, blustery conditions here on the Peninsula that cause widespread power outages.
“The best defense is preparation,” Hamlin said, which means having “sufficient water for each family member, nonperishable food supplies, blankets, flashlights, nonelectric means of preparing food such as a camp stove and other personal items to meet your immediate needs.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsula dailynews.com.
