SANATOGA PA – It’s probably not a matter of “if” any more. All National Hurricane Center warnings now predict Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township will be within the area of impact as Hurricane Irene tracks the East Coast this weekend (Aug. 27-28, 2011). Before it arrives, though, three individuals will have worked hard to ensure the municipality is as ready as it can be for any crisis.

They’re the members of Lower Pottsgrove’s emergency management team: township Police Lt. Michael Foltz, the designated coordinator; his deputy coordinator, Chris Wilcox, assistant chief of the Ringing Hill Fire Company; and the assistant coordinator, township Secretary Michele Cappelletti, a Kepler Road resident.

State laws passed in 1978, 1988, and 1989 require that every municipal government develop and maintain an emergency management program to deal with disasters caused by both natural and man-made events.

Foltz, who during September 2009 became the police department’s first detective-lieutenant, is primarily responsible for supervising and assigning its roster of 17 officers. His duties expanded when the Board of Commissioners, at the urging of Chief Michael Shade, named him as the program’s leader. He, Wilcox and Cappelletti have been busy since, with training sessions, crisis planning, and readiness assessments.

During this year alone, the team has:

• Revised Lower Pottsgrove’s emergency evacuation routes;
• Evaluated and updated the township list of facilities or institutions that pose an explosion or chemical spill risk;
• Partnered and trained with the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety to ensure Lower Pottsgrove’s ability to use a secure alert radio network that more efficiently sends and receives messages during emergencies; and
• Applied for several grants to reduce the township’s cost of both upgrading necessary equipment and purchasing variable message signs that could be used for roadside directions.

It also has handled, and won praise from Shade and the commissioners for,  more mundane but still significant emergencies like the blizzards of early and late January (2011), and damages caused by wind storms this spring.

Related:

• Essential hurricane info (from The Mercury)
• When (Not If) Irene Arrives, Township Should Be Ready
• See Why Irene Will Make Life In Sanatoga An Adventure
• If It Happens Where You’re At, Let The Post Know!
• Batten Down The Hatches For Hurricane Irene

Photo from Google Images