Grants help NH town better prepare for crises

By Matt Gunderson
The Union Leader Correspondent

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Town public safety departments will revise the town's emergency operation plan, equip the town's emergency operation center, and make the emergency center more secure with three new grants, said Fire Chief Kevin MacCaffrie this week.

Totaling $22,990, the three grants were received recently from the state's Department of Safety and its Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The grants will pay half the cost of the upgrades, said MacCaffrie.

The improvements to the current emergency operation center in the police station were identified after the Dec. 2008 ice storm, which knocked out power for many and forced some residents in town to take shelter in Londonderry High School, the town's designated emergency shelter. For the storm, public safety officials powered up the emergency center but quickly realized deficiencies with the system in place, said MaCaffrie.

"We didn't have enough telephones," he said, listing off some problems public safety personnel faced during the aftermath of the devastating storm. "We didn't have enough supplies. There was no status board to look at what was going on in town."

With the grant money, the town will purchase moveable cubicles to partition emergency workers, a status board, radios, supplies, and an LCD screen to communicate with state emergency coordinators during a catastrophe, said MacCaffrie. The grant will also help purchase locks and security devices for the town's backup emergency center in the central fire station on Mammoth Road. Currently, the center is not secure from intruders and could be exposed to sabotage during a crisis, he said.

MacCaffrie said the three grants will only pay about half of the cost of the upgrades town officials intend to purchase. The rest of the money will come from fire department budgetary monies and by using staff to perform some of the upgrades.

"It will cost us about $10,000 to $12,000 in actual cash money," said MacCaffrie.

The grants will also pay for the revision of the town's emergency operation plan, which needs to be revisited every five years, he added.

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