Derry addresses emergency planning, coordination

Residents of Londonderry are invited to a followup meeting in early January to discuss emergency planning and coordination in the town.

In early November, Londonderry Emergency Management, the Mighty Londonderry Community Resilience Organization and Vermont Emergency Management had conducted a tabletop exercise focusing on responding to and recovering from a crisis situation. In this case, a significant early season snowstorm was used.

A tabletop exercise is where emergency management personnel gather to discuss simulated emergency scenarios. It is used to assess plans and procedures.

The exercise brought together government officials including Emergency Manager Kevin Beatty, Select Board members Paul Gordon and George Mora and Town Clerk Kelly Pajala, Treasurer Tina Labeau and Town Administrator Robert Neid, first responders including members of the Champion Fire Company and Londonderry Volunteer Rescue as well as members of Mighty Londonderry.

The group discussed ways to communicate and coordinate a response and how to return to normal after the event. The discussion-based exercise was facilitated by Richard Cogliano of Vermont Emergency Management and highlighted strengths in the various organizations and identified ways the organizations could work together to help the community in a time of crisis.

A followup meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at the Londonderry Twitchell Building to discuss the results as observed by Emergency Management evaluators. The public is invited to attend.

For more information, contact Kevin Beattie at kevnshar@comcast.net or Bruce Frauman, of Mighty Londonderry, at mightylondonderry@gmail.com.