01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 21, 2006

BY AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer

In a disaster, local emergency management directors must make key decisions, from ordering evacuations to opening shelters, getting food and water to residents and clearing debris. They must also recruit volunteers and get them trained for emergencies.

Federal and state agencies rely heavily on guidance from local officials. But only two communities -- Providence and Pawtucket -- have full-time emergency directors. The rest are volunteers or part-timers, many with little or no funding and minimal experience in emergency planning.

"It's a job that continues to grow and grow in terms of responsibilities," said Charlestown's part-time EMA director, John Rookwood, who is leaving the post in September. "That time requirement right now exceeds 80 hours per month. It's a job that is no longer a job for a volunteer in any community in Rhode Island."

Many part-time directors say they are torn between their regular jobs and emergency management.

"What they don't understand is that if there is a fire disaster, I am not the EMA -- I am the fire chief. This makes you do two things at once," says Central Falls Fire Chief Rene Coutu, who is also the city's unpaid EMA director. "You need someone to be able to step back and direct the mayor in what he should do."

It's not surprising that smaller communities have minimal budgets. But even cities such as Cranston, Newport and Warwick rely on their fire chiefs to double as emergency directors, using money from their own budgets.

Newport Fire Capt. Peter J. Kirwin said the local EMA is "not even close" to having enough money to prepare for emergencies. Cranston's EMA director, Fire Chief Richard A. Delgado, said finding money is "an ongoing battle."

Because most towns aren't devoting much money to emergency management, the state has been providing federal homeland security money for disaster training and equipment.

But that support is being cut. Rhode Island is getting $7.8 million in homeland security grants this year -- about half of what it received last year. Even Providence, which has the largest EMA budget in the state at $364,311, will be affected.

"We can cover our bases now," said Providence EMA director Leo Messier. "In the future, with federal homeland security money being diminished, it's uncertain if we can maintain what we have in place."

These were the Civil Defense jobs during the Cold War era. When the threat of nuclear war dissipated, so did the responsibilities.

Then came Sept. 11, and suddenly, local directors whose biggest problems were blizzards were contemplating disasters of an international scope.

"If you were the EMA director in Exeter, let's say, what did you have to worry about? You didn't have to worry about the bomb," said state Robert J. Warren, executive director of the state EMA who was formerly Cranston's fire chief and the city's emergency management director. "But now you need a plan for pandemic flu."

Local communities were supposed to have disaster plans in the past, but there had been no state oversight. That changed under Warren, who was appointed last August.

Now, the state is demanding local plans and drills for such emergencies as hurricanes, evacuations, setting up food sites and collecting debris, distributing medicine during a pandemic flu and combating terrorism.

Many of the directors expressed frustration at the increased demands. "It would take several full-time employees just to do the paperwork," said Barrington's part-time EMA director Victor Teixeira, who is paid $1,480 a year.

Some are confused about their new responsibilities -- and that means local emergency planning is uncoordinated and mixed across the state.

Warren has been exploring ways to provide help. All of the local directors were given laptop computers to connect them with the state Emergency Operations Center in Cranston. All were recently trained to use a computer program that tracks hurricanes and tropical storms and helps emergency officials decide when to order evacuations.

But a proposal to form emergency operations centers for each county and streamline emergency management in the state has been postponed for lack of federal funding.

Some directors have become resourceful.

Warren Fire Chief Alexander Galinelli organized mailings of evacuation maps to town residents. Galinelli said he'll open the fire stations' kitchens after a hurricane so residents can cook their own food before it spoils.

In Richmond, volunteer director Joseph Arsenault recruited 50 volunteers to be trained by the Red Cross and helped organize a shelter for pets.

Todd Manni, the parttime director in Smithfield who also works at the Providence EMA, has recruited volunteers and created a town EMA Web site, www.smithfieldema.org..

New Shoreham volunteer director Peter Blane said he'll use volunteer firefighters to clear debris if a hurricane hits Block Island.

But some have fallen behind. Coventry, Foster, Glocester and Little Compton have no Red Cross-trained volunteers because their local directors haven't sought the training, said Nick Logothets, director of emergency services for the American Red Cross of Rhode Island. During a disaster, the neighboring communities will have to assist those towns with Red Cross-trained volunteers and shelters, he said.

Foster's volunteer EMA director, Providence firefighter Thomas Walden, said he couldn't fulfill the state's demands for hurricane and pandemic flu plans, which were due July 1.

"We have no money to do this and a limited amount of time," Walden said.

Hopkinton's part-time EMA director, Michael T. Octeau, would settle for extra help. There were just three people at the last training session for a Community Emergency Response Team. He needs 20 to 30 more.

"The immediate needs that I have truly don't cost anything," said Octeau, a full-time firefighter at T.F. Green Airport. "I need volunteers. . . . But with time constraints, it's hard to get out there and shake the bushes and try to get more people."

With staff reports from Justin Amoah, Maria Armental, Dan Barbarisi, Linda Borg, Kia Hall Hayes, Phil Marcelo, Zach Mider, Thomas Morgan, Katie Mulvaney, Tatiana Pina and Richard Salit.

Your turn: What do you expect from your local officials in an emergency? Do you think they will be able to meet those expectations? Have you stocked up on food and water in case of an emergency?

To see the rest of this series, photo galleries, maps of evacuation routes statewide, reader responses and more, go to http://projo.com/hurricanes

Editor's note

Scientists say hurricanes are becoming more frequent -- and more intense. Rhode Island has been hit hard in the past. This six-part series examines the strengths and weaknesses of the state's hurricane plan and offers advice on how to prepare.

before, during and after a natural disaster.

Series at a glance

Sunday/ POWER

If the power fails, emergency plans and backup sources would last only three days.

Monday/ COMMUNICATIONS

Emergency personnel have improved communication systems but only in some areas.

Tuesday/ EVACUATION

Most evacuation routes are well marked, but evacuees know where they want to go.

Wednesday/ SHELTERS

The state has a list of approved shelters, but there is still no official plan for pets.

Thursday/ DAMS

There are more than 600 dams in the state. Failures could cause widespread destruction.

Friday / RESPONSE

Local emergency management directors have a big job but often no training and small budgets.