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Health & Fitness

Town Administrator and Police Chief Discuss Portsmouth's Emergency Response

Hurrican Sandy Response Addressed on Portsmouth this Week

Portsmouth Town Administrator John Klimm and Police Chief Lance Hebert were guests on the 2 November edition of Portsmouth this Week, discussing the town’s emergency response to Hurricane Sandy. This was Mr. Klimm’s first emergency experience since coming to Portsmouth and he called the town’s response “impressive” and “well-coordinated”.” He complimented the leadership of John King, Portsmouth EMA Director, and the efforts of his volunteers who played a key role in manning the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) during the storm.

Both also discussed the town’s use of the new “Code Red” reverse-911 notification system, which was used as the storm approached. Chief Hebert said that through Code Red, he was able to reach out to over 9000 people in Portsmouth in less than an hour with his initial storm warning. An additional 1000 received emails. He urged all Portsmouth residents to visit the Town’s Emergency management website at www.portsmouthemergency.com or the Police website at www.portsmouthpoliceri.com to link to the Code Red system and update their information or add cell phones, emails or texts to receive Code Red alerts.

Social media provided an additional forum for public communications to and from Portsmouth emergency management during Hurricane Sandy, and it seemed to work fairly well. Both Chief Hebert and Mr. Klimm discussed the operations of the newly-formed Internet Public Information team in the EOC and its contribution to the overall public communications effort. Using the Emergency Management website blog, Facebook and Twitter, the IPI volunteer on watch in the EOC was able to post current information of general interest and respond to questions or comments coming in from the public. Chief Hebert indicated that the IPI team saved valuable time for his department by cutting down on the number of non-emergency calls coming in for information. Mr. Klimm thanked the volunteers who comprise the small IPI team (4 people at present) and discussed the need for additional volunteers going forward.

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Other storm-related topics were discussed on as well, including plans for a post-storm meeting next week of Emergency Management participants to identify what went well and what needs improvement. Mr. Klimm indicated that a public report will be made on the findings of this after-action meeting and that it would include citizen inputs. One of the ways to provide this input is by taking a web-based survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Sandy12 

Portsmouth this Week is a weekly television program broadcast on Public Access TV (Cox Channel 18) on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. You can also watch the 30 minute show by clicking on the link above or from links on the town website www.portsmouthri.com or the PEDC website www.portsmouthriedc.com

Find out what's happening in Portsmouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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