Westfield Emergency Management Director Steve Malochleb. (PHOTO SUBMITTED)
WESTFIELD – At the Public Safety Communications meeting on Oct. 14, Communications Administrator Nina Barszcz said that she and Public Health Director Joseph Rouse have met several times with Stephen Malochleb, who was named last month as the new Emergency Management Director (EMD) for the City of Westfield. Barszcz and Rouse have been acting co-directors since the retirement of former EMD Jim WIggs in July.
Malochleb previously served as the director of the Greater Westfield and Western Hampden County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
Barszcz told the committee that Malochleb had a “trial by fire” in a sense with the recent wind storm on Oct. 7. She said dispatchers at the call center received 400 calls over a five-hour period, and she gave recognition to the dispatchers who handled the calls.
After the meeting, Barszcz said that each municipality in the Commonwealth is required to have an EMD to work with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on a local level once an emergency hits.
Barszcz said the EMD provides resource management at the scene, coordinating shelters, calling in the Red Cross, and helping first responders. She said the EMD also does planning and training of personnel in the off hours for lockdowns, evacuations and emergency planning in general.
“The emergency management director is also the person who submits for grants from the state. What the director would do is to get funding for things that first responders need; such as equipment that the police department would not have budgeted for, or the fire department wouldn’t have budgeted for,” Barszcz said.
She said Malochleb will also be responsible for notifications on RAZE, the emergency Reverse 9-1-1 system, which he is currently training on, as well as familiarizing himself with city policies.
When reached, Malochleb called the storm “a nice little trial run to see how things went.”
A native of Westfield and a Westfield Technical Academy graduate, Malochleb has been a part of the Medical Reserve Corps for twelve years, and was involved during the back-to-back emergencies in 2011, the June tornado, Tropical Storm Irene and the Halloween snow storm.
Malochleb was also one of the original twelve members of CERT, and one of his goals in the MRC and now as EMD is to get 50 volunteers certified for the CERT Team before the next emergency.
“CERT can go out if we have a major disaster to search each and every home,” he said, adding volunteers who have emergency training to help back up the police and fire departments can do things such as carry tools to shut off gas and perform other preventive tasks.
Malochleb is also reaching out to other emergency management directors in the area. “You want a collaboration with all of them. I don’t want to be a stand alone. The more people you can get together and have on your team, the more you can accomplish,” he said.
Malochleb said he has taken many courses while at the MRC, and has a few others to take that are required by the state for his new position. About his new job, he said, “The city has to have somebody that is planning and preparing for winter storms, earthquakes,” and other emergencies.
He said if there is a second round of COVID, he will be prepared as EMD to get out personal protective equipment to first responders and other vulnerable groups, like the senior center. “We will adapt and overcome, whatever it takes,” Malochleb said.
“We’re very pleased that he accepted the position and that he’s begun the job as our emergency management director. He begins at a time when we expect it to be very busy, so he’ll get his feet wet quickly,” said Mayor Donald F. Humason, adding that Malochleb has the support of the police and fire departments and emergency dispatch, and will have the help of former acting co-director Rouse, who recommended Malochleb for the position.
“I’m confident that he’ll do a very good job. He already knows the job, and he was a good choice. He used to work with Jim Wiggs constantly. He already speaks the language and he knows the issues. He is just getting to know where all the things are stored in the city,” Humason said
Humason said another task Malochleb will have is to go after grants for emergency supplies needed for the city, especially during this time of reduced state support.
“We have to have somebody in that position to become our point person for FEMA and MEMA. Also, our EMD has to sign off on certain things. I’m happy now that he’s in the position, knowing that we’re going into the winter season with someone who is knowledgeable about everything from the government, to the military, to dispatch, and everything else,” Humason said.
