County to update hazard mitigation plan

At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16 there will be a public meeting at the Saratoga Town Hall to discuss an update of the Carbon County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP) adopted in 2009.

Barb Beck, of Beck Consulting in Red Lodge, Mont., was retained by the county to update the MHMP and will be at the Dec. 16 meeting. Beck has previously worked on similar plans in 16 counties in Montana and Wyoming.

Beck said she will be working with John Zeiger in his capacity as County Emergency Management Coordinator on the update.

According to a briefing sent out by Beck, the MHMP is designed to “make the county and its communities more disaster-resistant and less vulnerable to property damage and loss of life from a natural disaster.”

Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) regulations require municipalities and counties to have hazard mitigation plans in place in order to be eligible for disaster assistance and grant funding. The MHMP update is being funded, primarily, by a grant from the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Beck said, in her experience, contractors are almost always brought in to complete these types of plans mostly due to time constraints. The update of the MHMP will be a two-year process with numerous public meetings and several project-specific deadlines. This makes it difficult for county emergency management coordinators to complete their regular duties and meet the FEMA requirements for the plan update.

“The plan would be of better quality for people getting involved and letting us know what’s on their mind,” Beck said.

Topics Beck and Zieger said they expect to discuss at the public forum include flooding and floodplain issues, wildland fires, winter storms and wind.

Beck said these plans are typically focused on natural disasters but can also include mitigation of potential hazardous materials incidents.

Zieger said he hopes the whole community gets involved so they become educated in the FEMA vocabulary and hear what Beck has to say.

 

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