SOUTHWICK – The Select Board held a public hearing on Monday night regarding a Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan. Along with the Select Board, present at the hearing was Fire Chief Russ Anderson, Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown, and Director of the Emergency Management Agency for Southwick, Charlie Dunlap.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission assisted with the plan along with Southwick’s Board of Health, Conservation Commission, Department of Public Works, Emergency Management, and Southwick Police and Fire.
The Select Board made a motion to accept the plan and sign it. The last revised plan was on September 29, 2008.
Emergency Management Director Charlie Dunlap at work in the operations center. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Dunlap and his emergency management team use the plan to deal with the potential risk of disasters in the area. They deal with anything from earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, dam failures, droughts, floods, and so on.
The plan includes the mitigation aspect that is crucial to what Dunlap and his team does.
“Mitigation is one of the important factors in that you want to address a situation before it happens,” said Dunlap.
As Congamond Lake is a main body of water in Southwick, the plan also focuses on the development around Congamond Lake and other flood zones.
The hazards that affect businesses are also instructed into the plan. Dunlap uses the process of identifying the hazard and the different types. Dunlap and his team then would discover how the specific hazard would affect the town and also look at the history of hazards that the town has had in the past.
With the new revision put into place, the Town of Southwick and Dunlap can not only move forward with the plan but feel satisfied with making it official.
“You feel like you’ve accomplished something, it gives you a good feeling that your work is in progress,” said Dunlap. “It gives a good feeling to those that put in the time and effort for preparing the plan.”
