Hancock County COAD

On Thursday, November 5 Hancock County COAD participants elected the following individuals to serve as the Board for 2027:

Bob Benefiel* – Sertoma                             Dwayne Caldwell* – EMA

Lindsey Fiddler – Ride Hancock       Karen Newell* – Hancock Hope House

Jim Peters* – Salvation Army                      Maria Poor – Red Cross

Vickie Schmidt* – Trinity Park Church        Russell Shirley* – At Large

Jim Snellenberger* – Disciples of Joy         Amy Voris – NW Team

Dennis Westrich* – East Team                  Rich Wooton – Catholic Charities

Ex Oficio –  Mark Elder, Joe Fitzgerald

Most of you have heard about chaotic disaster response scenes. Second a third times through our Volunteer Reception Center trial runs were far less chaotic then the first time we ran the exercise. FEMA and the national COAD/VOAD structure were the result of analysis following VERY chaotic response to California wildfires in the 1970’s.

NIMS (National incident Management System) and ICS (Incident Command Structure) were key components of the solution to that chaos. They are the foundation to any emergency response nation-wide.

FEMA Course ICS100 is an introduction to the ICS. A key first step in getting prepared for responding to local emergencies. During the next few meetings of the Emergency Volunteers we will be going through this online course as a group. In order to be certified, each participant will need to set up an account and complete the exam online. If you have already completed this course but it has been a while, this will be a good refresher.

Come to the EOC (640 South Franklin, Greenfield) at 7:00 PM on Thursday, 11/5, for the first session.

Prior to the November meeting of Emergency Volunteers, the annual election of Directors for Hancock County COAD will be held. Meeting is at 7:00 PM on November 5 and will be at the EOC, 640 South Franklin, Greenfield.

Board members elected will serve for calendar year 2027. If you would like more information please contact us at HCCOAD@protonmail.com