Here is another in a series of articles about those people who you will never see until everything has gone completely to worms. This week, I visited the Levy County Emergency Operations Center. For a county of 34,450 people, this center showed a remarkable amount of organization and enthusiasm. I spoke first with the Director of the Center, Paula Kennedy, who graciously took a part of her day wedged in between several meetings to discuss the mission and organization of the Operations Center. 
Center Director, Paula Kennedy patiently smiles her way through a series of questions on her way to the next meeting
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This center is equipped to be staffed 24 hours a day during any emergency from local severe weather through hurricanes and even a radiological emergency at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant. The center has a complete kitchen and cots for sleeping facilities. When the center is activated, representatives from the county road maintenance department, police, fire and EMS, the Public Health Department, the Levy County Commission, the Red Cross and the school board are assembled. Each representative is assigned a position from which they can coordinate the efforts of their respective agencies during the emergency. They can communicate over landlines and with cell phones, by radio or, if necessary, through a network of ham radio operators.
The action room awaits the next event
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There is a range of plans to cover most occurrences; each printed out in checklist form so that anyone in the center can begin the process of preparing for the emergency. For example, a hurricane in the Gulf will probably trigger activation of the Emergency Operations Center at least 24 hours prior to any landfall. The Center personnel go through extensive training in the classroom and through actual hands-on exercises that are sometimes unscheduled and unannounced. The state of readiness for the entire operation is monitored by Federal Agencies such as the FEMA. The Radiological Emergency Planner, Mark Johnson, spoke with me at length about the plans for a radiological emergency at the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant.
Mark Johnson points out some information in the Cedar Key Hurricane Evacuation Study
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Although much of the information that we talked about is considered confidential due to the sweeping changes in Emergency Management since 9/11, he was able to assure me that Cedar Key, due to the distance from the plant, is out of the zone that might be immediately impacted by any known radiological event at the Crystal River Plant. In addition to his planning duties, (the action-plan notebooks fill a book case) Johnson attends regular classes at FEMA facilities around the country. In his spare time, he implements the radiological training programs mandated by federal law. Johnson trains police, fire, and EMS in Levy and surrounding Florida counties. Johnson stated that this part of his job is complicated by the fact that there is only one full-time Fire Department person in Levy County, all the rest of fire department personnel are volunteers. The volunteer staffs are constantly changing and this triggers a cascade of renewed training sessions. These people are deeply involved in planning for emergencies that may never occur. In case that one of those situations takes place anyhow, it's nice to know that they are ready. | 