In late October, an old valve failed as the Village of Hiram took down its old water tower after a new one was added. This could have potentially contaminated local water.
Out of what Mayor Anne Haynam called “an abundance of caution,” the village issued a boil-water notice. To reach all 900-plus residents, the village used multiple modes of communication.
“We issued a notice on the website and social media, as well as went house-to-house with both the boil alert notice (taped to door if no one home),” Haynam said in an email. “[We] did the same when the alert was lifted.”
Hiram is small enough to go door to door. But what about larger cities? When information equals safety, how do Portage County’s municipalities protect their residents?
The Village of Hiram is one of five cities, six villages and 18 townships fully or partially in Portage County that work to keep people up to date when emergencies occur. According to Portage County’s Emergency Operations Plan, all county jurisdictions are responsible for responding to safety concerns and coordinating recovery efforts if necessary.
When needed, county, state and federal resources come in to help, too.
“You have providers, like water departments and others, that can send alerts. You have universities that have their own alert system for their students and staff,” said Ryan Shackelford, Portage County’s emergency management director. “Then, you have communities at the local level that have their way to communicate with the public. And then you have my level, which is emergency situations.”
Kevin Grimm, captain of the Streetsboro Fire Department, said road closures, power outages, natural gas leaks or other events impacting the city are the most common alerts his team sends out.
Shackelford said the county receives weather alerts, which come from the National Weather Service in Cleveland, most often. Hazardous materials warnings are the second-most common alert, since the county holds dozens of chemical facilities, and vehicles transporting petroleum and other chemical-based materials frequently pass through.
“When it comes to public information or emergency alerting where you need the public to take protective actions, we need to make those decisions very quickly,” Shackelford said. “It’s not like a hurricane where you have three or four days of advance notice.”
The first steps to emergency management in situations like these begin at the local level, Shackelford said.
Most areas have their own community-enrollment emergency software, which allows residents and customers of that location to sign up for text, calls or emails of emergency alerts and other information sent out by a department within that municipalities’ government. Updates are also usually posted to town websites and social media platforms.
The city of Streetsboro uses the communication system Nixle, which allows residents to receive alerts through text or email about planned and emergency situations. Grimm said the on-duty dispatcher sends out the messages to his city of over 17,000 people.
“Most notifications are sent under the authorization of a police department official,” Grimm said in an email. “The mayor and other city officials may also request that a Nixle message be sent for just cause.”
The department also puts out severe weather messages, but Grimm said people should not use Nixle as their first choice for weather information.
The cities of Kent and Ravenna (which both have a population of at least 10,000), along with Kent State University and other localities, also use their own form of a communication system.
Haynam said the Village of Hiram will have a new website in the coming weeks that will allow residents to opt into a notification system, giving them the option to choose their preferred form of communication (email or text) and if they would like notifications for emergencies only or for additional non-emergency situations.
As defined in the Portage County’s Emergency Operations Plan, an emergency is an unplanned situation that puts life and/or property in danger, and it requires an immediate response. Severe weather, structural collapses and active shooter situations fall into this category. A non-emergency situation is planned and can include municipality reminders for events and notable days or information.
Shackelford noted local agencies may also send out their own notifications pertaining to their field, like Portage County Water Resources, which offers a sign-up link for alerts on water bills.
The Portage County Emergency Management Agency helps out when towns reach out.
“If Kent is overwhelmed or needs assistance, then they can call us for assistance, but we don’t interject ourselves and say, ‘Hey, we are going to do this for you,’ Shackelford said. “[From towns], it’s really like, ‘Hey, we could do some help. Can Emergency Management bring in some public information officers? Can you help with us with a media release?’”
The county uses the Wireless Emergency Notification System (WENS) software, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to send alerts out to all cell phones in a desired geographical location. Shackelford said his department sends out IPAWS alerts for areas upon request, and his department can also provide municipalities with media-release templates and needed contact information.
To ensure residents remain as informed as possible, Grimm encouraged people to sign up for additional non-town-specific alerts, like “National Weather Service NOAA Weather Radio, weather apps for phones and ensuring public safety alerts are turned on for your cell phone, [to] increase the likelihood that a person will know when important events are happening in the area.”
Shackelford advised the community to plan ahead to ensure they are safe when potentially dangerous scenarios arise.
Prior to the incident in East Palestine, a train derailed the night of Nov. 1, 2022, on the Rootstown border of Ravenna Township. One minute, families in close proximity were eating dinner — the next, they received alerts to evacuate. Shackelford emphasized people never know when an inevitable situation will happen.
“We do everything we can to prepare and provide the education on what you can do to prepare, but in the blink of an eye, you never know when it could be that time, right?” he said. “So, make sure you have your alerts on, and make sure you understand what it means to shelter in place, to evacuate. Would you have everything you need? Do you have pets? Do you have family members and other people that would be difficult to get out of the house? Have some of those questions answered in advance.”
