A Carbon County committee that looks at helps monitor hazardous materials responses, now has another play book that looks at transportation in the event a disaster strikes.

Last week, members of the county Local Emergency Planning Committee heard a presentation from Bill Hillanbrand of Emergency Management Consulting about a commodity flow study he completed for the county. Hillanbrand has extensive experience in the emergency management planning stages as he previously served in Northampton County’s Emergency Management and on that county’s LEPC.

“It’s important for counties to do something like this to get the basic information as to what types of hazardous materials are coming into the community,” Hillanbrand said. “It helps to prepare for, train for, respond to, navigate against and this prioritizes those activities for the LEPC to have that understanding and to say, ‘Who are we going to help first? Who is most at risk?’ and to be able to spend our money wiser.”

He stressed that this study is a playbook that every municipality should access and that the LEPC should reference because it provides vital information to help not only with emergencies, but also in making more informed fiscal and operational decisions, as well as validating those decisions that are made.

The commodity flow study is an over 350-page document that covers every type of transportation risk that moves through Carbon County, from road to air to water to rail.

Hillanbrand highlighted that the document outlines traffic patterns, crash histories, geography, population density and risk assignment to best help emergency responders with a response.

In Carbon County, which has a total area of 387 square miles, has an estimated population density of 170 people per square mile. This calculation is then further broken down to each municipality and can be used to determine everything from proper evacuations to how a response is handled.

“Why is this (figure) important?” Hillanbrand asked the LEPC. “When I was a planner, I wanted to know if I had to evacuate a square mile, which we’ve had to do when we had a hazmat incident, how many buses would I need? I’m thinking you can put about 50 people on a bus so about three buses (for the evacuation).”

Hillanbrand provided the county with both a printed copy of the report, as well as digital versions for use by the LEPC and emergency responders.

“I want other counties to know what they’re getting into and that’s why I do it,” he said. “I want to make sure you have the right information.”