The Bridgewater Comprehensive Emergency Plan (CEMP) was formulated to provide for the safety and welfare of the Citizens of Bridgewater in the event of natural, technological, man-made and national security emergencies and disasters.  A CEMP encompasses the elements of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.  Often the response to specific emergency events are similar in nature to a different emergency event.  Therefore, a CEMP should be flexible and adaptive.

 

The following emergency events have been identified by public safety officials of the Town of Bridgewater, possibly requiring a response that would be beyond a day to day typical incident response of public safety officials.  These events are categorized as high risk, moderate risk, low / moderate risk, low risk and no risk.  For the purpose of caution this CEMP shall not categorize any potential event as no risk.

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAN DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE

Each department is responsible for the development and maintenance of their respective plans, including annual review, as cited in the Town of Bridgewater’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.  As cited above the town is at varying degrees of risk for potential disasters therefore the response to any individual disaster encompasses few, if any unique characteristics, not common to most disaster events.  The obvious exception to this common characteristics concept are school incidents such as Columbine, mass casualty events particularly with respect to commuter rail,  hazardous material events and acts of domestic terrorism.  All departments mentioned above in fact have plans in effect that would be responsive to emergency events that would fall within the purview of disasters within the common characteristics concept.  Also the police and fire departments have plans in place to deal with mass casualty events.  The B/R school district also has plans in place to respond to a school related incident.

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ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTER

In those circumstances in which there is lead time with respect to a pending event that would require more than a normal day to day public safety response, of which most would be forecasted weather related events, the Director of Emergency Management would call for a meeting of essential town department heads for proper coordinated preplanning, response, additional needs, to include staffing and equipment and recovery.  Attendees at this meeting include, but are not necessarily limited to the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Director of Emergency Management, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Highway Superintendent, Health Agent, School Representative, EOC Public Information Officer, Cable 9 Station Manager and the RACES (Radio Amateur Coordinator Emergency Service) coordinator.  If department heads cannot attend, then their next in command should attend to ensure an unchallenged chain of command to subordinates.

Clearly in the event of an unanticipated disaster, i.e. hazmat, tornado, terrorist event, etc. the EOC would be activated.  The same essential personnel as cited above would respond to the EOC, ASAP.

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ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE PROTOCOL

In the event that local public safety officials should need additional assistance, the first level of assistance should be from towns that would typically provide mutual aid.  If assistance beyond this level is required, protocol dictates that the Director of Emergency Management in collaboration with the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, would request this assistance from Region II of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), located at MCI, Bridgewater.  Additional needs and assistance would be provided by MEMA, Region II resources, which would be enhanced by the MEMA headquarters in Framingham.  Protocol further dictates that MEMA headquarters would make any request of federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Typically, requests for assistance beyond mutual aid would be made secondary to the declaration of a local state of emergency by the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. For the sake of expediency, said declaration can initially be verbal and forwarded to MEMA Region II, by the Director of Emergency Management, followed by a written declaration document.

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COMMUNICATIONS

Communications is of paramount importance in any emergency event.  The Emergency Management Department has significantly enhanced its communications capability.  This department now has state of the art communications equipment, to include the capability to communicate worldwide.  The core of its communications capability is based on amateur radio operators and equipment, to include VHF, UHF, HF, packet radio, antenna, and computers with sophisticated weather tracking software and GPS systems for search and rescue missions.  Additionally VHF, UHF, GPS and computer systems have been provided to the Fire Department for its mobile emergency response/command post vehicle.  State of the art portable radios as well as fixed radios have been provided to the Police Department, as well as equipment for its SWAT team.

In the event of an emergency event, based on a request from the Director of Emergency Management, four amateur radio operators would report to the EOC within 30 – 45 minutes.  An additional 6 – 8 amateur radio operators would report within 2-hours.  These operators would provide communications at the EOC and would also be dispatched to shelters, staging areas or other areas in need of communications, as well as with MEMA Region II.  Communications will be established with the National Weather Service (NWS) at Taunton, Massachusetts.

A number of these amateur radio operators are trained in search and rescue.  If needed and requested by the Police or Fire Chief, these personnel would assist in search missions, under the direct supervision of the incident scene commander, be it the Emergency Management Director, Fire or Police Chief.

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NOTIFICATION AND WARNING SYSTEMS 

In those situations in which advance notice is available, information to the Citizens of Bridgewater, will be made available through the local cable television studio.  Written information will be scrolled on BTV cable channel 9 & 22, informing the public on what preparations and precautions to take for a forecasted hurricane, blizzard, etc., as well as information on the opening of public shelters.

In those events in which there is little or no advance warning, the Emergency Operations Center has the capability, and would pre-empt local programming on Cable TV channel 22, with live television broadcasting.  Additionally the Police and Fire Departments would make broadcasts over their radio system with an emergency warning advisory that could be monitored by those citizens who have scanners.  Also the Police Department, Fire Department and EMD mobile vehicles would provide warning to the public through those public address systems in their vehicles.  WBET in Brockton would also be used as a conduit to transmit information.

An additional significant communications capability is the utilization of amateur radio operators for weather/severe weather tracking under the auspices of the Radio Amateur Communication Emergency Service Skywarn Network.  In the event of a severe weather alert by the NWS, the Director of Emergency Management would be immediately notified by the local RACES coordinator.  An amateur radio operator would report to the EOC and would maintain regular communications with an amateur radio operator at the NWS.  Additionally communications would be established with other radio operators across the state that would be tracking the path of the severe weather.

This capability allows for some advanced warning that severe weather, i.e. thunderstorms with heavy wind and hail, would imminently impact Bridgewater.  The Director of Emergency Management would then immediately notify the Police Department which would then dispatch personnel to outdoor areas where citizens may be congregated, for example: athletic fields, school yards, handi-kids, etc. advising same to seek shelter.

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 EVACUATION AND SHELTER

In the event of an emergency event, either town wide or to a limited section of town, sheltering of our citizens may become necessary.  The preferred method of sheltering is sheltering in place and should be encouraged to the degree possible.  This is not typically what would occur.  Therefore sheltering of the Citizen’s of Bridgewater is a high priority.  The following are the current designated shelters:  Mitchell Elementary School, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, Williams Middle School and the Burnell School.  The Mitchell Elementary School is the primary shelter, with the other schools used for overflow or incapacitation of the Mitchell Elementary School.

If in the event of an unforeseen emergency or a forecasted weather event, upon the discretion of the Director of Emergency Management, the Mitchell Elementary School would be opened.  Maintenance personnel at this school would open the facility and would staff it.  Additionally food services personnel would initially be on call for staffing.  If necessary and called upon by the Director of Emergency Management, food services personnel would respond to provide for feeding of those citizens utilizing the shelter.  Additionally, amateur radio operators would respond to provide communications from the school to the EOC and in concert with staff from the EOC would register all citizens who arrive at the shelter.

If long term sheltering were required, the American Red Cross would respond to the shelter.  The Board of Selectmen, the Police Department, Fire Department, Highway Department, Health Department and Animal Control Officer would be notified of the opening of the shelter.  If necessary a police officer would be present at the shelter.  All shelters have back-up generator power.  An experienced volunteer staff member of the EOC would be responsible for overall coordination of sheltering activities.

Typically evacuation would be by individual citizens utilizing personally owned vehicles.  If citizens were in need of transportation for evacuation use of the senior citizen’s van, loaned multi-passenger vehicles from Ryder Bus Company vehicles, Bill’s Taxi, Brockton Area Transit (BAT), buses from Bridgewater State College and other multi-passenger vehicles would be utilized for town wide evacuation or transport to town shelters.

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MAPPING

The EOC has a town map in its situation room in which essential data is clearly indicated for emergency events.  Both the Police and Fire Departments have copies.  The town is divided into five (5) districts.

This map includes evacuation routes egressing the town, for a town wide evacuation, with all evacuation routes directed away from the town common to prevent traffic logjams.  Traffic control points within proximity of the common are clearly indicated.  Said evacuation routes are as follows:

Route 104 east and west from the town common; Route 18 north and south; Route 24 north and south and Route 106 east and west.  Also this map provides a ready reference in the event alternate routing is necessary due to blocked roads.

The map also has colored coded those facilities designated as special needs.  These facilities are institutions or buildings in which large groups of people are congregated and would require special attention in the event of an emergency event.  This special needs facilities are identified as follows:  Bridgewater-Raynham High School; Williams Middle School; South Street Elementary School; Burnell School; Senior Center; Bridgewater State College; MCI Bridgewater; Bridgewater Nursing Home; Senior Housing at Hemlock Drive; Senior Housing at Heritage Circle and Conant Medical Center.

Also highlighted on the map are three (3) businesses in town which house hazmat materials, as well as routes used in the mobile transportation of hazardous materials.  The map gives ready reference to which streets would be near a hazardous material event that might require evacuation of citizens, typically a minimum 2000-foot circumference.

Further indicated on this map are eight (8) landing zones for Medivac.  Each one of the five districts cited above has at least one landing zone in the district.

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DOMESTIC TERRORISM

The Town of Bridgewater has a specific plan to deal with any potential acts of terrorism.  This plan was in place previous to the events of  September 11th.  For operational security purposes, details of this plan will not be enumerated here.

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SCHOOL INCIDENTS

Since the Columbine school incidents there has been an intensive nation wide review of emergency plans for school related incidents.  Such a review has been done by the Bridgewater-Raynham School District in collaboration with public safety officials from Bridgewater and Raynham.  There is a current and comprehensive confidential plan in place for response to violent events that might occur in the Bridgewater-Raynham School system.  This plan is reviewed annually.

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MASS CASUALTIES EVENTS

The town is prepared to handle a mass casualty event.  Response is centered primarily through a mutual aid package employed by the Fire Department.  Beyond a weather related event, the potential for mass casualties exists at our railroad crossings; school bus accidents; hazardous material accidents and acts of domestic terrorism.

The Fire Department has a system in place, which utilizes a mutual aid package employing a rotating system of escalating assistance from other Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services.  A protocol is also in place at the county level where additional EMS personnel and equipment would be dispatched.  A staging area would be established to utilize the orderly deployment of emergency equipment.  A medical triage area would also be established.  Police would ensure traffic control, crowd control, as well as security and integrity of the scene.  Medical transportation routes would be cleared by the Police Department.  If necessary the Medivac landing zones would be activated.

If mass fatalities are involved and the nature of the event precludes normal handling of the deceased, the Board of Health Agent has initiated several protocols.  These protocols include housing of multiple fatalities at local funeral homes, or at other suitable locations if local funeral home capabilities are exceeded.

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SPECIAL NEEDS CITIZENS

A certain populace of the town are special needs citizens due to certain physical handicaps.  A limited database of these citizens is maintained by the Emergency Management, Police and Fire Departments, and is considered confidential information.  In the event of a town wide emergency or power outages, this database would be queried immediately and emergency personnel dispatched accordingly.

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