Baltimore County officials gathered at the Brooklandville Fire Station on Monday, Oct. 17, to unveil the county's new hazardous materials vehicle, sign a new emergency operations plan and tout the county's status as a "Storm Ready County."
"You know the old maxim, that preparation is the key to success," County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said.
Kamenetz, County Fire Chief John Hohman, Police Chief Jim Johnson and dozens of firefighters from the Brooklandville station were on hand to unveil the new HazMat 114 unit, a 2010 Spartan Rosenbauer.
The unit features a command cab with research capabilities, two 22-inch monitors, a 20,000-watt generator, an on-board compressor that's twice as strong as the previous model and a 25-foot telescoping light tower.
Kamenetz said crews in the old HazMat vehicle, purchased in 1988, did well to respond to 181 incidents in 2011 and 208 the year before, but "a lot changed in hazmat response since that vehicle had been constructed 23 years ago."
Officials said a combination of Baltimore County funds and grant money from the Federal Urban Area Security Initiative covered the cost of the $470,449 cost of the vehicle.
The county also used Monday event to mark two other emergency-related items.
County Director of Emergency Management Mark Hubbard announced the National Weather Service has named Baltimore County as a Storm Ready County — a designation that certifies the county has met communication, safety and preparedness requirements necessary to help residents receive weather warnings and respond to weather events.
"It's important that we have these plans because, for our federal reimbursement process, reimbursement funds, and grants that we receive, we're required to have this level of preparedness to be eligible for these grants," Hubbard said. "It is a significant return on our investment to have that."
Kamenetz and Hubbard also signed a new emergency operations plan for the county into effect.
Hubbard said there were few major changes to the existing plan, but every few years, county agencies go through the plan, line-by-line, to get rid of outdated language — though they also can update the plan immediately when circumstances arise.
Since the last plan went into affect in 2007, Kamenetz said the county has learned from blizzards and the recent earthquake and hurricane.
"When we're talking about ensuring that our first responders and government agencies are both trained and equipped to respond in an emergency, the real key is having smooth interagency collaboration," Kamenetz said.
"This new plan is really designed to clarify expectations and enable everyone to respond efficiently and effectively, and also without stepping on each other's toes."