By Jonann Brady
Shaken by recent events, residents of typically quiet South Shore communities are asking whether crises of such magnitude could strike here. More important, are we prepared to deal with them? The answers, according to Nassau officials, are yes and we're getting there.
To that end, the county is stepping up readiness efforts, with a focus on potential bio-terrorist attacks.
sub: 'Proof in the pudding'
Leonard Samansky, the county executive's liaison to the Emergency Management Office (EMO), arrived at his desk early the morning of Sept. 11 when a police sergeant called and told him to turn on the TV.
Samansky, whose office television is usually tuned to the Weather
Channel, watched the second plane hit and dashed to county Executive Thomas Gulotta's office. From there, the EMO sprang into action.
"There were a whole series of events starting at 8:48 a.m. on Sept. 11," said Samansky.
The Emergency Management Office, which was instituted during World War II and now falls under police jurisdiction, coordinates county emergency response. "We get the right people to the right places at the right time," said Samansky.
The self-contained EMO nerve center, burrowed 28 feet underground in Mineola, contains an array of emergency facilities, including the 911
dispatch office. Seven county officials, including the executive, met in the bunker on Sept. 11 to give orders to the field.
Municipal officials such as mayors or fire chiefs most often handle local emergencies. The EMO steps in during a severe, wider-scale crisis, and the county executive heads the operation. EMO directors coordinate efforts with fire, police, health and other agencies. On Sept. 11, "we were the single point of communication" for Nassau County, said Samansky.
By 9:06 a.m. on Sept. 11, the EMO had activated a Level 3 response, the county's highest level of preparedness. Police and fire personnel and equipment were rushed to the city throughout the day. In Nassau, police patrols were doubled, hospitals were placed on high alert, and westbound highways into the city were closed.
New York City's Emergency Management Office, located on the 23rd floor of Seven World Trade Center and which included the city's 911 dispatch, was rendered inoperable for several hours after the attack. Following the attack, members of Nassau's EMO spent weeks in the city, assisting with operations.
Speaking of Nassau's ability to respond to a major disaster, Samansky said, "The proof is in the pudding. Not only did we respond immediately to New York City, we had a similar, immediate response to Flight 587."
sub: The unforeseeable future
In the past, Nassau's EMO has dealt mainly with blizzards, hurricanes and other weather-related crises. The largest, non-weather disaster that the office responded to was the 1990 Avianca plane crash in Cove Neck, said Samansky and others.
After Sept. 11, Nassau's emergency-response focus has shifted. Homeland security, once a foreign concept to most Americans, has entered the lexicon. The EMO has always had plans to deal with natural disasters, but Sept. 11 served as a wake-up call for officials to speed preparations for man-made catastrophes.
Deputy Police Inspector John Carlsen, Nassau's EMO director, said the focus of his office's planning has shifted to bio-terrorism. "It's a different kind of animal and changes the way things are done," said Carlsen.
While police and fire departments are typically first responders to emergencies, now health departments are preparing as first responders. The EMO is working with all 14 county hospitals to "make them a partner in emergency management," said Carlsen.
At Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, a new trailer sits near the emergency room. The unassuming box, about 12 feet long, is actually a decontamination center, with four showers and a changing room to dispose of clothing. The $33,000 unit can handle 100 people in an hour, said Shelley Lotenberg, hospital spokeswoman.
The medical center, which deals with more than 80,000 emergency visits a year, is a Level One trauma center that includes a helicopter pad and the county's only burn unit and hyperbaric chamber. Center officials also recently purchased 15 hazardous-materials suits for employees and plan to install a larger decontamination tent that can accommodate people on gurneys or in wheelchairs.
Medical-center security has been tightened, and emergency employees have taken part in scheduled and unscheduled decontamination drills, said Judge Joseph Driscoll, a hospital consultant.
"We're always prepared for the usual unusual like hurricanes," said
Driscoll. At this point, "the anthrax situation has focused most of our
attention."
"We can cope with anything we foresee," he added.
That, perhaps, is what frightens people most. The nature of
emergencies, especially the terrorist-related kind, is that they are unforeseeable.
County officials, however, are confident that although their emergency plans need refinement, their response units stand ready.
"We are working very hard to be prepared," said Carlsen. "The directions have all changed. The focus is different now. Terrorism was a back-burner issue. Now it's on the front burner."
