Is Williamsburg prepared for a major disaster?

How well is Williamsburg prepared for the possibility of someone poisoning the town water supply, or a deranged individual shooting up a school or local factory?
How prepared is the city to deal with a major fire at a local factory similar to the CTA explosion in Corbin nearly four years ago.
These are the kind of questions a Kentucky Community Preparedness Program (KCPP) team is attempting to answer this week during an assessment process that started Monday morning, and will last all week.
“Basically, we have a grant through the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to do risk and vulnerability assessments in communities throughout the state,” said KCPP team leader Tom Lindquist.
He said the emphasis is on incidents of mass violence, such as school shootings.
“We do a risk and vulnerability assessment, but the other part of this program is that we look at response capabilities,” he noted. “There are two components to all this. The site has to be able to protect people for a period of time, and bring that resource base to bear.
“The other part is the resource base. Do you have everything you need as far as your first responders in terms of training, equipment, and pre-planning? That all spells success.”
Lindquist said each individual community picks the infrastructure that it wants tested.
Normally, there are six assessors in the group, but Lindquist said there are seven this week in Williamsburg.
Locations being assessed this week vary greatly throughout the community ranging from the Hal Rogers Family Entertainment Center, to the water plant, the health department, the 911 center, the University of the Cumberlands, the airport, and various local schools in the community.
While the assessment focuses on incidents of mass violence, recommendations made by the assessors can also apply to responding to other natural disasters, such as a tornado, flood, or fire.
“We are not going to tell you that your greatest threats are international terrorists, but there certainly are people in the community that given the right motivation are capable of incidents of mass violence,” Lindquist added.
He said the assessors won’t inspect facilities, but will instead give an objective assessment of readiness, and make recommendations to enhance security.
The Kentucky Community Preparedness Program is the Department of Criminal Justice Training’s homeland security initiative that strengthens the security of Kentucky communities by locating and eliminating potential vulnerabilities. It focuses on hostile acts and crime in small- and medium-sized communities through a system of risk assessments and recommendations for improved security.
So far the group has assessed over 100 communities throughout the state, and is on pace to complete assessments in all 120 counties by the end of July.
In August 2003, Williamsburg was one of the six original communities in the state initially assessed through the then pilot program. Other communities included in the pilot program were: Alexandria, Eddyville, Campbellsville, Morehead and Nicholsville.
“This was the project to test the concept itself,” Lindquist said. “Since we have gone through that pilot program, there have been a number of changes throughout the program. The methodology has been refined. We have come back to re-do it.”
One big difference between the initial assessment, and the one now being done is that communities now qualify for up to $10,000 in grant money to help pay for improvements recommended as part of the assessment.
Lindquist said the results of the assessment can also be used when formulating grant applications for homeland security funding.
A press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center to explain the assessment process and to reveal some of the recommendations for the community.
Lindquist said the assessors will discuss vulnerabilities with city officials, but won’t make that information public.
What will be disclosed at Friday’s meeting are recommendations the group is making to the community to enhance safety.
Lindquist said some of the changes will just be a matter of changing some policies that won’t necessarily cost the city much money.
He said Tuesday morning that so far, nothing has stood out as unusual on the assessment in Williamsburg.
“Williamsburg is very typical of the kind of community we go into,” Lindquist said. “It has about the same resource base as you would find in most communities this size.
“There are some good things, which we will talk about in our out briefing. There are a few things that I think you can do to enhance it.”
“I am kind of looking forward to seeing how we pan out,” said Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison.
Harrison said one practical suggestion that officials are suggesting to communities, is placing the room or door number on outside windows and doors of schools.
“If a fire truck or police come to a school, they don’t have to run into the building to find out which room has a problem,” he noted.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher praised the community for its participation.
“This is an exceptional program that is going to make Kentucky and its communities safer,” Fletcher said. “I want to applaud the officials in Whitley County for taking this bold step to protect their community and their citizens.”