Wayland LEPC Mission

To ensure all available and appropriate resources are working to minimize the impact of hazardous material releases on our community. And at all times be

Ready to Respond.

We accomplish this by:

• Analyzing Hazardous Material Risks in our community.
• Working with facilities to mitigate any risks.
• Identifying 'at risk populations'.
• Training and education programs.
• Equipment Assessment Analysis.
• Preparing a detail Response Plan.
• Maintaining and testing Response Plans.
• Developing public outreach programs.
• Making available, to the public, pertinent information.

In December, 2005 the Town of Wayland formally adopted the National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System to manage all emergencies and pre-planned events.

In May, 2004, Wayland was awarded Full Certification by the state of Massachusetts. At that time it was one of twelve municipalities that reached this level.

In 2003, Wayland's Emergency Planning Agency and the Local Emergency Planning Committee combined its meetings and planning efforts. One objective for the next two years is to merge the stand alone HAZMAT Response Plan developed under the mandates of Title III into the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan that deals with all-hazard emergencies.

Wayland LEPC Post 9/11/01

Following 9/11/01, scenarios that were once the stuff of film, that on 9/10/01 fell into the realm of the absurd, became real. And cities and towns everywhere began a re- assessment of their emergency assumptions, capabilities and response plans.

Wayland was no exception. After developing the LEPC's mission statement, our first step was a realistic and responsible reassessment of Wayland's risks.

It was determined:

• Risks change and at a minimum must be reassessed annually.
• That suffering a targeted terrorist attack was incredibly remote. However, in the shadow of the events during the fall of 2001, and the catastrophic consequences that could result from such an event, keeps that remote risk on the planning table.
• The highest risk is from the unknown cargo that travels through our town on the five state routes that crisscross Wayland. A vehicular accident involving a hazardous material substance is the most probable and unpredictable event we must plan for.
• Another area of risk are the few facilities that, because of the various inventories they maintain, could result in a hazardous material incident.
• Wayland's two Tier II facilities are considered a lesser risk due to the extraordinary safeguards in place.
• Incidents in bordering towns could also impact our community.

Once the risks were identified, priorities to meet and maintain the LEPC's mission were set. Those priorities are:

• Full Certification of Wayland's LEPC and HAZMAT Response Plan and maintaining the plan and that status.
• Appropriate Training and First Responder Equipment.
• Development of Regional Partners beyond the usual Mutual Aid.
• Develop effective and efficient Communication -
  Emergency Notification to 911
  Between Responders, Dispatch, and Support
  Between Responders and the Community
• Plan Testing - Exercises.
• Community wide planning and preparation.
• Develop grant proposals for all of the above.

Once the priorities were set, Key Result Areas (KRAs) were identified and steps to achieve those KRAs were developed. The work will always be on-going, and overtime new priorities may be added and KRAs will change.

The most sobering certainty is that no plan is ever perfect so we keep working and learning.

Wayland LEPC Post Katrina

A report on the lessons we have taken from Katrina and incorporated into our emergency planning will be posted in the late spring.

Avian Flu Planning

The Wayland Board of Health is very involved in the Mass. Dept. of Public Health Region 4A which is developing programs, protocols and policies to deal with not only the potential of avian flu pandemic but also any bio emergency that could impact us.

When protocols are available we will post them.

IN HONOR OF......

The Wayland Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) and Emergency Management Agency believe the best way to honor the people who lost their lives and the people who gave their lives on 9/11/01 is to make every effort to have everyone living, working, worshiping or playing in Wayland prepared and encourage them to have emergency plans.

 

Your effort not only could save your life and the people you care about, but also the life of a first responder. Everyone understands that it is the job of Fire and Police personnel to keep us as safe as possible and to put themselves in harms way to protect us. But it is our job as a community to ensure they can do their job as safely as possible.

 

Making a plan can help do that. A simple thing, such as a designated meeting place, in a fire emergency, will ensure fire personnel are not searching for someone who actually is out of the fire and danger.

 

According to the 9/11 Commission, being prepared and having a plan is the best way to honor the victims of 9/11.

Wayland LEPC Meetings

All meetings are open to the public. In fact, we encourage you to come and ask questions and express your concerns.

Meeting date, time, location, and agenda are always posted at the Town Hall in the main hallway.

Meetings are scheduled Quarterly: The third Wednesday of the last month of each quarter at 9:30 am in the Public Safety Building's Training Room. There could be changes, so it is imperative to check the Town Hall postings prior to attending a meeting.
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• March: 3rd Wed.; 9:30 am; Public Safety TR
• June: 3rd Wed.; 9:30 am; Public Safety TR
• September: 3rd Wed.; 9:30am; Public Safety TR
• December: 3rd Wed.; 9:30 am; Public Safety TR
  

The LEPC Standing Committee meets on the third Wednesday of every month, except when the full LEPC is scheduled, at 10:00 am in the Public Safety Training Room.

Tier II Information

Tier II Annual Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventories and/or Material Safety Data Sheets must be filed if a site stores hazardous chemicals above a certain level. This information is filed with the LEPC, local Fire Department, and SERC and is available to individuals to review.

• Wayland's Tier II information are stored at: Wayland Fire Department
• They can be viewed at: Station #2, Wayland Fire Department
• By Appointment: Weekdays (except holidays) between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm.

To make an appointment to review this information please contact:

Wayland's Community Emergency Coordinator
Bob Loomer, Wayland Fire Chief: 508-358-6910

Wayland LEPC Response Plan

LEPC's Hazardous Material Response Plan can be viewed, by appointment, between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm, weekdays (except holidays), located at the Wayland Police Department.

 

Certain annexes and appendices to the plan will not be available for public review. These sections deal with specific actions and protocols that, if made public, could compromise the security of the community and responding agencies in certain emergencies.

           To make an appointment to review the Response Plan please contact:

Bob Irving, Wayland Police Chief and  Emergency Management Director at 508-358-1710

LEPC Contacts

Emergency Management Director Bob Irving, Police Chief Town of Wayland	508.358.1710
Community Emergency Coordinator,Tier II Bob Loomer, Fire Chief Town of Wayland	508.358.6910
Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) Chair Gale McNiff Town of Wayland	508.655.9284
Community Corp Council (CCC) Program Coordinator   Gale McNiff, CCC Program Cordinator	508.655.9284
Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT)   Gale McNiff, CERT TT CERT Program Coordinator	508.655.9284

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAP Wayland Community Action Program

As was mentioned before, Wayland's LEPC believes that a major HAZMAT event in Wayland is very remote, however it is our job to think about the unthinkable. Hazardous material incidents can be very fast, requiring fast, defensive action to avoid catastrophe . The Community Action Program (CAP) was created in answer to a 'what if' session of the Wayland LEPC.

'What if' there is a major snow or ice storm, or hurricane impacting the entire state and Wayland has a HAZMAT emergency as a result of the bad weather? The following questions led to the creation of CAP.

• Will our regional and mutual aid partners be able to respond to Wayland or will they be involved in their own towns or in another part of the state?
• Where will we be on the State and Federal priority response line and how long before help can be counted on?
• How long will it take for off-duty emergency personnel who do not live in Wayland (which is most of the responders) to get here?

The LEPC determined the following:

• CAP's Mission
• We need as many households, businesses, institutions, and organizations as possible to be prepared and have emergency plans in place. (See Emergency Information)
• We need to have a unified 911 notification protocol. (See Emergency Information)
• We need to have quick and effective public notification systems. (Our biggest challenge and being researched)
• We need to have Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) for pre-determined tasks that will be used only when all normal emergency resources are exhausted. (See Volunteering)
• We need to develop a resource list of Wayland residents with specific expertise and disciplines that would be willing to assist or advise during an emergency. (Computer, Struct.Eng., Commun., Elect., Plumbers, Truck Drivers, etc.)

Though this program creates a strong partnership with the community at large, it should be understood that Citizen Emergency Response Teams and the expertise Resource List, can never replace our town emergency response personnel. These two aspects of CAP in most cases will only be used if Emergency Personnel are not available.

CAP Wayland's Community Action Program MISSION

CAP's Mission is to achieve, during extraordinary emergencies, a partnership that ensures Wayland is ready to respond quickly and safely.

What is an Extraordinary Emergency?

An Extraordinary Emergencies is any emergency that requires immediate community action and cooperation that cannot risk inaction while waiting for regional, state, or federal assistance but exceeds Wayland's 1st Responder and support resource capabilities.

What is a Partnership?

Wayland's Community Action Program (CAP) has six Components: Initial Notification Source; 1st Responders; Support; Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERTs); Business and Institutions; and General Population.

Within each component there are Partnerships. And each component works in Partnership with every other component.

Depending on the type of emergency, the make-up of a component can change. For instance: Fire, Police, Emergency Medical Services; and Highway might partner in the 1st Responder Component in one type of emergency but in another emergency only Fire and EMS would partner in the 1st Responder Component, while Police and Highway would partner in the Support Component. But in all emergencies, every component, regardless of its make-up, works in partnership with every other component.

YOUR WAYLAND PARTNERS Ready to Respond

Police and EMA	Fire and EMS
LEPC	Selectmen
Board of Health	Conservation
Water Dept.	Highway Dept.
Housing	Schools
Surveyor/GIS	Building
Council on Aging	Park & Recreation
Parmenter Center	Library
Wayland Cable	Emerson Hospital
Planning	Finance
Town Clerk	Personnel

Regional Partners Ready to Respond

Informal Regional LEPC with Concord, Lincoln, Sudbury, and Weston. (The eventual goal will be State certification.)

Mutual Aid Agreements between bordering cities and towns. Fire and Police

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bioterrorism preparedness Group, Region 4A

Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council - Rapid Response Law Enforcement Group.

Fire - Special Ops Response Unit

Middlesex Sheriff - Mobile Command Unit

Fire District 14

State Partners Ready to Respond

 

SERC MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMISSION (CLICK MEMA ICON)

SMART STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS ANIMAL RESPONSE TEAM (CLICK MEMA ICON)

            
Mass. Dept. of Public Health

Mass Department of Fire Services

Dept. of Transportation

Federal Partners Ready to Respond

National Protection Center (Natick Labs)

Dept. of Transportation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Center for Disease Control National Response Team

National Fire Protection Agency

Your Responsibilities
Ready to Respond

The most important individual responsibility in any  emergency is to be prepared and make plans. You need to have plans for different types of potential events. Everyone in your immediate circle needs to know those plans. You should practice them. You should up-date them. You should make absolutely certain that everyone knows what to do in a given circumstance. Everyone should know their responsibilities. That is your responsibility.

Today it is imperative that we all - every individual, every family, every business - recognize and accept our roles and responsibilities in ensuring our own safety, as well as our community, our state, and indeed our country.

If there is an evacuation, does everyone in your circle know the out-of-state contact number? Where do you meet? What should you bring? Be prepared. Have a plan.

Did you know that in an evacuation, you should BRING YOUR PETS? That even if you are not sure if a hotel or a shelter would take animals , you should bring your pets. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts created the State of Massachusetts Animal Response Team (SMART) to assist local jurisdictions when it is beyond the local jurisdictions ability to safely shelter all types of pets and other animals during any type of emergency that requires evacuation. Do you know what you should bring for them? Be prepared. Have a plan.

If there is an in-place sheltering, do you know what that means? Do you know what you should do? How to do it? What supplies you should have? Be prepared. Have a plan.

Events involving hazardous materials requires special planning. Collecting your children from their school in one situation could be catastrophic in another.

A hazardous material accident happens near your children's school. You try and call the school and can't get through. You try and call your spouse and the circuits are busy. You call the local authorities, along with hundreds of other frantic parents, and jam the system - hampering the rescue efforts.

So you jump in your car and rush off to rescue your children, your spouse does the same. Driving through a toxic plume on the way to rescue your children doesn't help your children: it just makes you both victims. And your children, according to your LEPC's and School plans will already have moved them to a safe shelter. Be prepared. Have plan.

During a disaster or emergency, people are always eager to do something. To help. To be part of the solution. The truth is the most important thing anyone can do comes before a disaster.

If you really want to help and be part of the solution here are some things you should know and do NOW:

• Review Tier II reports so you know what risks exist.
• Review your LEPC's plans.
• Review your CEM's plans.
• Review your children's school's plans.
• Review your children's after school activity center's plans.
• Review your elderly relative's facility's plans.
• Review your place of employment plans.
• Be familiar with your spouse's work place plan.
• Have plans for different types of emergencies.
• Practice those plans and up-date those plans.
• Ensure everyone in your circle knows the plans.
• Ensure everyone in your circle understands their responsibilities.
• Have emergency kits ready for you, your family and your pets.
• Have emergency kits in your car, appropriate to the seasons.
• Have emergency kits for your pets.
• Have material in your home for sheltering in-place.
• Volunteer to take part in your communities emergency response plans, exercise drills, etc.
• Join a Citizen Emergency Response Team or Medical Reserve Corp