emergency management

Emergency Response Team Regroups, With All Towns on Board

Olivia Hull

Emergency management leaders have been busy planning within their respective town boundaries, but coordinating an Islandwide response has been slower to get off the ground. Late last week about 50 people gathered to restart the effort among the six towns.

Tisbury Appoints New Emergency Services Director

Ivy Ashe

Tisbury police Lieut. Eerik Meisner was appointed as new town emergency services director this week. His recommendation to the post came from town fire chief John Schilling.

Police Stage Emergency Drill at Edgartown School Saturday

Sara Brown

Edgartown police chief Antone Bettencourt said the mass casualty drill will last about three hours and will likely close part of Edgartown-West Tisbury Road and Cooke street.

Who Ya Gonna Call? Era Ends as Oak Bluffs Safety Czar Steps Down

Olivia Hull

After 38 years of service, longtime Oak Bluffs emergency manager Peter Martell is stepping down from his post. His proudest accomplishment? "Nobody's died on my watch," he said.

Is the Island Prepared for the Next Big Storm?

Remy Tumin

One year after Hurricane Sandy dealt a knock-out punch to the mid-Atlantic and cast a glancing blow to the Vineyard, the question as to how New England will fare in the next great storm has been the subject of much discussion up and down the coast. The Vineyard has been lucky, said Dr. Jeffrey Donnelly, an associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. But eventually the Island’s number will come up. Go back, for example, to the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635.

Storm Response Team Strives To Improve Communication

Olivia Hull and Ivy Ashe

Each morning when West Tisbury emergency management director John Christensen wakes up, he turns on his iPad and checks the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s weather forecast. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of winter or hurricane season.

Edgartown Unveils New Emergency Management Center

Felipe Cabrera

On Saturday afternoon the Edgartown Police Department held an open house, giving taxpayers a chance to see all the new bells and whistles.

Officers gave tours of the new Emergency Management Center and showed off the new emergency response boat.

Patrolman Jamie Craig, a member of the SWAT team dispatched to Watertown last week, talked about SWAT training procedures.

Emergency Personnel and Coast Guard Participate in Dramatic Disaster Drill

Mark Alan Lovewell

It began as a drill, and the more people became involved, the more believable it got. More than 100 public safety volunteers gathered Saturday for a mass casualty drill at the little bridge in Oak Bluffs. There were sirens, fake blood on the ground and children screaming in apparent pain.

U.S. Coast Guard Orders Increased Ferry Security After London Bombings

James Kinsella

The United States Coast Guard has ordered the Steamship Authority and Hy-Line Cruises to increase security measures on their ferries following the terrorist bomb attacks in London last Thursday.

Coast Guard officials said they are not sounding an alarm, but are simply taking necessary precautions following the London attacks, which as of mid-day yesterday had accounted for 52 deaths.

Hurricanes Remind Islanders: Be Ready

Julia Rappaport

As Hurricane Florence brushed across Bermuda over the weekend, Vineyarders kept a sharp eye on the weather reports, many thinking with relief that the Island had dodged another bullet.

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