Moretti, a retired coal miner, volunteers as the emergency management coordinator for the Allegheny Valley Regional Emergency Management Agency. It started in 2011 with Springdale and Harmar; Cheswick came on board in 2013.
The agency's emergency operations center, housed at the Springdale Borough Building, is where officials would coordinate the police, fire and medical response to a major disaster or emergency.
Moretti said it's like a miniature version of Allegheny County's emergency operations center, and he knows of no others like it. It took about three years just to get the regional operation started, he said.
1 computer replaced by 10
The center this month got a significant upgrade with the addition of 10 new computers. At two tables, there's stations for use by police, fire, medical services and elected officials as well as functions such as planning, operations, logistics and financial administration.The hardware replaces the center's one computer, so old that it still runs Microsoft's outdated Windows XP operating system. Having just one computer made getting things done “difficult,” he said.
The new computers are “going to help us greatly. We'll be able to run a lot smoother and more efficiently,” he said. “It just speeds everything up.”
Moretti said it took years to get the nearly $7,000 to buy the computers. He sought donations and grants and scrimped and saved from the money the three municipalities provide. A $2,000 grant from Walmart paid for three of them.
The room's furnishings were cobbled together from donations.
When there isn't an emergency or disaster, the center and its equipment can be used for a variety of training. In an emergency, it can also serve as an evacuation center.
What Moretti does for the communities is “amazing,” Springdale Council President Jason Fry said.
“He definitely has a passion for it,” Fry said. “He works very closely with the schools as well, which is obviously a huge benefit to the residents here in all four of the municipalities and the school district.”
Fry said Moretti was able to get a new garage built outside the borough building at no cost to taxpayers. It now shelters a Red Cross trailer for use in emergencies.
“He's a huge asset,” Fry said. “He should be congratulated for everything he does.”
Collaboration ‘a good thing'
State law requires every municipality to have an emergency management coordinator, an emergency operations plan and an emergency operations center, said Alvin Henderson, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services.While there are other municipalities working together, Allegheny Valley stands out for the number involved, Henderson said.
“Collaboration is always a good thing,” Henderson said. “The big benefit is to have a solid emergency management plan that is exercised and reviewed with the whole community.”
Working together is “extremely cost effective,” Moretti said.
“Instead of three communities duplicating the same thing, they chip in and pay for one. We're here to make sure everything is run efficiently,” he said. “We make sure everything they're required to have by state law is kept current.”
Any municipality that borders an existing member can join, Moretti said. Springdale Township is considering doing so; township Commissioner George Manning said it will be part of their 2016 budget talks.
Manning is temporarily serving as the township's emergency management coordinator.
“We are weighing our options right now,” he said. “We think it makes sense to do something like that so the whole valley is involved. It would just make sense to put them all together.”
Fry said he hopes the township gets on board.
“I think it would be huge to have everybody under one roof,” Fry said. Moretti “is showing that this area can be a leader into the future in some respects.”
Going forward, Moretti said he hopes to add a large television to the center. He'd also like to get a generator big enough to be able to fully power the borough building.
Obtaining a vehicle, so he wouldn't have to use his own in an emergency, is something that would be “years and years” down the road.
“It's a wish, not a necessity,” he said. “It would be nice to have an emergency management vehicle.”
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