SANATOGA PA – Although Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s municipal building will be open for public business Thursday (Oct. 13, 2011), you may have a tough time finding members of its administration or department officials to talk with there after 9:30 a.m. That’s because many will be preparing for next month’s mock emergency drill at the Exelon Corp. Limerick Generating Station.
A Montgomery County amateur radio operator participates in an earlier drill involving Limerick Generating Station
The nuclear power-generating facility annually conducts a drill for municipal officials and emergency personnel during November. This year’s two-day event is scheduled for Nov. 15 and 16 (Tuesday and Wednesday) at and surrounding the reactor site at the intersection of Evergreen and Linfield Roads, and takes on added significance as Exelon pursues renewal of its generators’ operating licenses.
The site sits on the dividing line between Limerick and Lower Pottsgrove townships, which makes theirs the first among what would likely be thousands of first responders. As Lower Pottsgrove’s emergency management coordinator, police department Lt. Michael Foltz wants to ensure the drill runs smoothly. He’s scheduled the preparatory training session Thursday that will involve administrators, department heads and police, among others.
Foltz met during April (2011) with representatives of the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety to review Lower Pottsgrove’s emergency operations plan, its notification and resource manual, and its radiological emergency response plan in advance of the drill.
He’s been active since in developing and implementing training with the Sanatoga and Ringing Hill fire companies to ensure route alerting procedures could be fulfilled within specific time limits. Foltz and his emergency management colleagues also have been trained in procedures required by Exelon, and the Pennsylvania and the Federal Emergency Management agencies.
They aren’t the only ones getting ready for drill activities.
Montgomery County amateur radio operators also will again be part of Exelon’s event. Members of the county Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) provide emergency backup communications to every local government within the county, its website reports, and adds: the “Limerick drill is one of (the) most important deployments … we do. (It) allows us to show off our capabilities to local, state, and federal government agencies.”
RACES volunteers provide radio communications assistance as needed for more than 20 different government entities during the drill, and it’s still looking for amateur radio licensees who can donate time to the effort. Those interested must both become members of the group and pass a criminal background check. For more information, visit its web page, here.
