The Butler County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) met for their quarterly meeting on Thursday, October 15th at the El Dorado Civic Center. In addition to the election of Officers for 2021 and setting the meeting schedule for the upcoming year, a COVID-19 Pandemic Review was held. This was the first meeting the committee was able to hold since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“One thing we like to do after a disaster is an after action review where we sit down and look at how we responded to the disaster.” said Keri Korthals, Director for Butler County Emergency Management.
The LEPC was able to gather, in a safe and socially distant manner, and had the unique opportunity to hold an after action review while the action is still happening.
“Because this disaster has been so protracted and going on for so long, we don’t want to wait too long to start having those conversations,” said Korthals.
The discussion included a review of the challenges, successes and lessons learned in the past seven months.
Each county in Kansas is expected to have a LEPC, consisting of emergency response agencies, hospitals, industries, and community groups.
Some of an LEPC’s primary responsibilities include:
Preparing and regularly reviewing their jurisdiction’s Emergency Operations; plan, as well as coordinating training exercises for stakeholders on the Plan; collecting information on hazardous materials stored throughout the county; analyzing potential risks to the community; evaluating the adequacy of warning systems and evacuation procedures (as they relate to hazardous material spills / releases); and promoting the community’s right-to-know law to the public and providing educational materials / resources to the community.
The Butler County LEPC is comprised from representatives from the following organizations:
American Red Cross
Andover Fire and Rescue
Barton Solvents
Board of County Commissioners
Butler Community College
Butler County Community Development
Butler County Conservation District
Butler County Emergency Management
Butler County EMS
Butler County Landfill
Butler County GIS
Butler County Health Department
Butler County Sheriff’s Office
Butler County School Superintendents / USD 394
City of Rose Hill / Rose Hill Police Dept
DaVita Andover Dialysis
El Dorado Correctional Facility / Dept of Corrections
El Dorado Fire Department
El Dorado Police Department
Everyday El Dorado
Flinthills Services
Holly Energy Partners
HollyFrontier – El Dorado Refinery
Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Kansas Medical Center
K-State Research and Extension
Mears Fertilizer
Phillips 66 Pipeline, LLC
Rausch Medical Clinics
Savage Services
South Central Mental Health
Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital
Towanda Fire Department
Tallgrass Energy Partners
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