August 28, 2008
City fire station to house mobile storage unit
The county is in the process of purchasing trailer to hold supplies to response to a mass-casualty event which will be stored in a West Bend Fire Department station.
The city’s Common Council approved a memorandum of understanding at its Aug. 18 meeting which would outline terms of the arrangement, in which the county will purchase the trailer using federal safety grant money and turn it over to the city for storage and use. The County Board accepted a $50,000 federal grant for the trailer in January.
The trailer could be used to response to mass-casualty emergencies in the five-county area of about 10 patients or more, according to county emergency management coordinator Rob Schmid. It could provide support in emergencies with as many as 50 casualties, such as a bus crash or a building collapse, Schmid said.
“It kind of overwhelms and is more than your ‘normal’ accident,” Schmid said.
The trailer would provide backup medical supplies to ambulance and first response workers in such an emergency.
“The reality is the trailer isn’t going to make it to the scene as soon as all the ambulances are,” Schmid said. “But once the ambulances care for 10 patients or more, they’ll be stripped of their equipment, so they can go to this trailer to restock more quickly.”
The trailer’s contents, determined by a state-certified panel on emergency medical services, need to be kept out of the elements in a controlled environment, Schmid said.
Therefore, the city’s fire department was an option for storing the trailer, which will resemble an enclosed trailer used to tow cargo or snow mobiles. The department already had the space and the vehicle fleet in place, Schmid said.
“We have the room for the trailer itself,” Battalion Chief Todd Van Langen said in a presentation to the Common Council.
The trailer requires minimal insurance, maintenance and upkeep, Van Langen said. The maintenance and insurance costs for the trailer would likely be less than $150 per year, he said.
The replacement of medicines and equipment with expiration dates on the trailer will be phased into regular ambulance upkeep, Van Langen said.
“Most of the equipment that’s going to be on that vehicle we already have,” according to Fire Chief Jim Vest. “We have a program for rotating our ambulance equipment. Think of it as an extra storage room.”
Vest said the trailer will most likely be stored at Fire Station 1 on Seventh Avenue and West Washington Street.
The grant funding for the trailer is part of $4.5 million set aside for the five-county area through the federal government’s Urban Area Security Initiative, Schmid said. By positioning resources regionally, emergency services are able to cover a larger area.
“We’re obviously the north trailer,” Schmid said. “It’s basically surrounding the city of Milwaukee.”
Waukesha received funding last year to purchase the central trailer, which is larger and could serve 100 patients in an emergency, Schmid said. Another trailer is to be stationed in Racine.
MILWAUKEE BIDDING SURVEILLANCE CAMERA TRAILERS
The city of Milwaukee is currently in the bidding process for mobile security cameras which can be used for surveillance purposes, according to emergency management coordinator Rob Schmid.
The camera can be towed around, and has cameras on a telescoping pole which can reach a vantage point of 30 to 35 feet, Schmid said. It beams a video signal back to a surveillance van, and which could potentially forward the video along to a police or sheriff’s department through a wireless Internet connection, he said.
The unit resembles the temporary light pole trailers used for in impromptu parking lots, such as in the north overflow parking field at the Washington County Fair Park during H.O.G. Haven, the official campground of Harley-Davidson’s 105th anniversary.
The unit could be deployed for a variety of reasons, from concern about potential vandalism to a building or monitoring crowds at large events.
“I’m sure our Sheriff’s Department would probably love to have it (Wednesday) night, when they’re expecting tens of thousands of people for the Lynard Skynard concert,” Schmid said.
Once the city of Milwaukee has finished the bidding process, the idea is that the surrounding counties will be able to purchase units with federal grant money using the same price structure, Schmid said. The bidding process has taken a long time because many companies make these units, and the city was able to specify exactly what was needed, he said.
“The idea is we all have exactly the same thing. Probably the only difference we’ll each put our own names on them or the counties will have their own logos,” Schmid said. “Then when something large came up, like Harleyfest or Summerfest, all of them could be brought together because they’re going to be the same or interoperable.”
A Milwaukee newspaper ran a story in which a civil rights organization questioned whether the surveillance cameras would infringe on personal privacy. Schmid said there would be nothing covert about the units.
“A couple people said ‘well, I don’t like people watching me at a festival,’ or whatever,” Schmid said. “This thing, you’ll know that it’s a camera. It looks like a construction compression trailer with a big mast on it with the cameras on the top of it.”