EL PASO COUNTY — The winter storms of October show the widespread impact of weather on our community. On Thursday, the dozens of people involved in emergency response for the Pikes Peak Region prepared for future winter storms and other disasters.
Earlier this year, The Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management (PPROEM) combined city and county emergency management offices. “I’d like to show-up to a scene and know everybody that’s there, verses I don’t know who you are,” said PPROEM, Director, Jim Reid.
Exercises bring skills and resources together.
There is now just over 700,000 people across 2,100 square miles in El Paso County. It is why a combined city and county office of emergency management is proving a better way to respond to disaster
The exercise scenario this day is blizzard conditions. Skills and protocols can also apply to man caused disasters, but weather is more often than not the cause of community wide emergencies.
It is why the federal contributor to this exercise is the National Weather Service. It is an important contributor, helping emergency managers be ready for potential weather disasters. Along the Front Range weather changes can happen fast. "The big rocks--the Rocky Mountains to our west do play havoc quite a bit on the weather patterns you see here on the Front Range, “said Greg Heavener with the National Weather Service, ”Which is why having these meetings preseason really helps solidify the plans for when we don't have as much time to react to a weather episode."
