New Hanover County LEPC Minutes 5.8.2019New Hanover County LEPC Meeting
May 8, 2019
New Hanover County EOC
The following persons signed the roster indicating they were in attendance:
NAME BUSINESS NAME BUSINESS
Lisa Brown NHC Health Dept John B Smith American Red Cross
Carol Yates Corning, Inc. Kate Murphy Oelstager NHC
Teresa Smith NHC EM Quint Ocock HEPACO, LLC
Jodie Ruskin UNCW Linda Willis NCEQ DAQ
Paul Carr NHRMC EM Billy Howard NHR EMS
Gina Staples Lassiter Buckeye Terminals Jeff Suggs NHC Public Health
Lester “Jay” DeGrange Buckeye Terminals Matt Pugliere Matrix Technical Training
Hendrix Valenzuela NCEM Ed Parvin Town of Carolina Beach
Robin Lorenzen NCEM Allen Hancock NCDOI
John Allen GE Alan Pytcher NCDOT
Joe Moran AirGas Phillip Watts Colonial Terminals
Steve Pfaff NWS Richard Smith SR&R Environmental
Ron Stancil Sturdy Corp Heidi Cox NCDEQ-Public Water
Stan Harts WithersRavenel Frank Meyer NHC Fire
Christina Rollins WithersRavenel Steve Mason WFD
Charles Debrah Praxair John Dittmar NC Ports
Brian Carr Corning, Inc. Sean Craig NC Ports
Patricia Keith American Red Cross Johsh Scheffer Duke Energy
Mike Thompson American Red Cross Anna McCrea NHC EM
Welcome and Introductions:
Teresa Smith opened the meeting at 11:00 thanking Ed Parvin for loaning us his facility at Carolina Beach
this month and to welcome Anna McCrea, New Hanover County (Asst EM Director). She also welcomed
Steven Pfaff, National Weather Service who will be giving a presentation.
Membership announcements: N/A
Minutes:
No minutes from the last meeting as there was an Emergency Exercise in its place.
Open Forum:
General introductions by all in attendance. Ed Parvin welcomed everyone.
Anna McCrea spoke of emergency planning strategies post-Florence. We are working for preparedness
from industry perspective. We need long range vision, take stock of our resources and assets.
NHC EM will be providing a survey asking how NHC EM can support industry, not only during long term
disasters, but emergency incidents. Trying to find out what resources we have, trusted and vetted to
make local decisions for the good of the group.
Q: Are there additional trainings we can provide, what can we do better to be prepared.
Q: Would we want to do a workshop on Continuity of Operation Planning (COOP), looking beyond Tier II
Planning. Are we interested in this as a group? Does anyone have a COOP that they would like to
share?
Q: What do we as a group need for roadway infrastructure? How do we want to be informed? Need to
keep supply chain moving. We all need to stay engaged.
Teresa asked if the group has found some normalcy after Florence? She stated that her number one
priority was to pull the database together of public and private sector resources.
Q from Dittmar – most immediate discussion – gas and diesel for emergency vehicles, State DOT – n
general was everything no problem. Were agencies at red-line critical to get vehicles on the road?
A: Fuel was a hot commodity. Fueling resources need to pre-position. Expectation that by next
hurricane season a plan will be in place.
Q: Who is spearheading this?
A: NHC Purchasing is making sure we do not become an island with no resources again.
Q: Red Cross deals with sheltering, why not let them set up?
A: Anna McCrea – Initial set up process is covered by the County, they should be ready by the 73rd hour.
Red Cross will cover from that time forward.
Multiple water systems are dependent on fuel
Public / private sector reporting – keeping status up to date.
Q: They that – water – they have a database for tracking fuel
Q: NHCo Comm document has anyone had a chance to read through? It is very informative and
unbiased.
Buckeye Terminal. Preparedness measures were destroyed. They had fuel but couldn’t distribute due
to a water permitting issues. They were under water and had to process the water before they could
start distribution. Asking if the permit requirements could be put aside for an emergency situation.
Cost prohibitive to comply and distribute fuel. Safety Controls caused the delay.
Coast Guard stated that they should contact them and the NHC EM. They would be able to push up to
the state level to gain access. Acts of God can be dealt with.
Questions in emergency situations need to be asked and answered. If you don’t know who to call, start
with the County Emergency Management team.
___State EM Eastern District – send up to local EM, then it goes to Eastern Branch, if they cannot
address the question, they will kick it up to State Emergency Management. State EM has a fuel and
energy emergency plan.
Anna: when normal processes fail, funnel through local, regional, state. Maybe we should have an
exercise to make connections face to face.
??? – Is there a site where public and private sectors can view damage assessments real-time? Video,
pictures? Coast Guard spoke up that there is a Coast Guard Facebook page set up where the public can
send pictures and videos
Patricia Keith, American Red Cross – She received numerous offers from corporations wanting to send
supplies, but there were no central receiving stations set up. Anna McCray: they are working on a long
term recovery group to help with receiving public donations, who and how these donations would be
distributed.
Teresa stepped in and said she really likes where the dialog was heading and reminded us to answer the
survey when it comes out.
Anna turned the floor over to Steven Pfaff of the National Weather Service to speak on the subject of
Hurricane Tracking and the relevance of the Saffer-Simpson scale vs storm surge and event duration.
Some of the most damaging hurricanes were Cat 1’s. Public only focuses on the wind – water is what
makes the disaster. Steve brought up “We can’t plan for what we haven’t seen.”
Steve offered to come to individual locations to offer weather training.
Teresa brought the motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned and seconded.
Sub-Committee Breakout Summaries:
N/A
LEPC Committees:
Executive Committee
Chairman- Teresa Smith
Vice-Chairman- Eric Hatcher
Secretary- Jodie Ruskin
Emergency Planning & Response Sub-Committee:
Chairman- Eric Hatcher
Members: Michael Thompson, Steve Mason, Frank Meyer, Dustin Stream, Billy Howard,
Thomas Johnson, Marchele Evans, Heather Griffin
Community Education & Public Response Sub-Committee:
Community outreach – brochures. Teresa has them to give out. She will be inviting Linda to more
events. Wants to speak to preparedness. Who we are and what we do. Public is welcome to attend.
Not just be industry partners.
Chairman- Linda Willis
Members- Teresa Smith
Next LEPC Meeting:
July 10, 2019 at 11:00 AM in the New Hanover County Emergency Operations Center.