It has been nearly 12 years since Marion County has been hit by a hurricane. In 2004, two storms — Frances and Jeanne — battered 3,000 homes and caused $30 million in damages across the area. And those were tropical storms, only packing 45 mph winds when they toppled trees across the area.
Since that time, there has been a hurricane drought. In fact, it has been more than a decade since Florida has been hit by a hurricane — the longest no-hurricane streak on record.
“At these community meetings, I always ask, ‘How many of you were living in Marion County in 2004 when we last had a hurricane?’ ” said Marion County Sheriff's Office Capt. Chip Wildy, the county’s emergency management director. “And less than half the people raise their hands. That means we have a lot of inexperience out there.”
Since 2004, the population of Marion County has grown by 41,500 people, to more than 330,000 people. No one knows how many of the new residents have experience with hurricanes.
And, since Florida has not been threatened by a hurricane in more than a decade, those residents who were here in 2004 are becoming complacent, officials said. Many are not thinking, for example, about basic hurricane preparation like three days worth of water and food in case roads become blocked and movement and supplies are limited.
“That is one of our biggest concerns every year,” said Wildy, adding that complacency is worse than ever because of the long string of inactive seasons.
At the same time, staffers with area public safety agencies are generally less experienced than in 2004. Many veteran emergency workers who helped residents though those 2004 storms have retired or are no longer in the same capacity, for example.
On Wednesday, more than 100 people who work in public safety gathered for a drill of sorts at the county’s high-tech Emergency Operations Center, or EOC. The men and women were from most every area government agency, including city municipalities.
They arrived at 8 a.m. for about four hours of training and testing. Each individual tested his or her phone and computer access. It was a refresher course of the EOC and each person’s responsibility.
Of those emergency command officials, maybe 20 percent were around during the 2004 onslaught. And of those who are still around, most are playing different roles than in 2004.
From the mid-1990s through 2004, Florida had one of the most active hurricane periods in history. Many of the local public safety agencies often traveled all over the state to help other communities with disaster response to hurricanes. Those groups were seasoned before the storms hit Marion County in 2004.
Wildy said the current core group of EOC command members have regular meetings and that the emergency workers are ready for whatever comes.
And, now, Marion County has one of the most high tech, state-of-the-art Emergency Operation Centers in the state. The $4.9 million, 15,000-square-foot facility opened in 2009 and is envied by officials with many agencies across the state.
In 2004, the command center was inside a Sheriff’s Office conference room. Phone wires dangled from ceiling tiles, resembling IVs, making the small room look like a hospital ward.
“They (emergency operations center officials) didn’t have the technology or the experience in 2004 and they did a great job,” said Bill Kauffman, Ocala’s assistant city manager. “These are highly trained professionals.”
The Marion County Emergency Radio Communications Team, or MERT for short, is an example of such professionals. MERT is a group of ham radio operators who are deployed to shelters. If countywide communications are disrupted, these operators can pass information quickly across the county. Only three of the 22 active members were around in 2004. Even so, said Bill Case, one of the group’s leaders, the operators train regularly and are ready when needed.
The command center includes seven subgroups — emergency services, critical infrastructure, human services, planning, logistics, finance and command. Each subgroup is in charge of such things as road clearing, search and rescue, and utilities. The subgroups include more than 100 people, all with different responsibilities.
It was Sept. 26, 2004, when Wildy first started dreaming of a new EOC, one that would be more efficient and could better house so many people needed in a hurricane emergency.
Wildy, then a lieutenant with the MCSO, was exhausted. Hurricane Jeanne had just crossed the county, toppling trees and knocking out power to 100,000 residents, one third of the county’s population.
For nearly three weeks straight, small rooms and offices throughout the Sheriff’s Office Operations Center — which then included administration and 911 communications — were used, including some for sleeping.
On that day in 2004, Wildy began drawing lines on a note pad, planning a new state-of-the art EOC complex. He vowed he would somehow find the grant money, and other funds, to build the best EOC money could buy.
Five years later, in May 2009, Wildy’s team officially moved into the new center on Northwest 30th Avenue, behind the Sheriff’s Office headquarters. In 2011, a bunkhouse was added for workers to get rest during emergencies.
Wildy said the new EOC is years beyond the 2004 facility and that all of the area public safety and other workers are trained and ready, without exception.
During Wednesday meeting, the lights flickered out and came right back on. The city of Ocala had a power outage. The EOC was quickly being powered by generators.
“This was not part of the drill,” said Robert Johnson, Marion County’s deputy emergency management director. “But the generators clicked right on like they were supposed to.”
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