The Franklin County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (REPC), with support from the Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council, has been working on a project to bring a multi-agency coordination center (MACC) to Franklin County. The MACC will augment local emergency management staff by providing a robust emergency operations center ready to support local emergency management directors. If a response calls for more resources than a single town has within its borders, volunteers working at the MACC will assist in obtaining resources from other Franklin County towns before forwarding that request up to MEMA to access state resources. Situational awareness gathering and dissemination by the MACC will help to establish a better common operating picture for those communities in the midst of the disaster and for their neighboring communities.
A small working group of volunteers from the REPC has been researching different physical locations to house the MACC, which includes the Sheriff’s Office and Greenfield Community College. Discussions about sustainable funding and sustainable staffing are still taking place.
The MACC concept has received a thumbs up from the Franklin County Fire Chiefs Association and will go before the REPC for formal adoption during its April 4th meeting. REPC staff will be visiting emergency management directors and selectboards throughout the county in the coming months to explain the project and invite communities to sign a memorandum of understanding agreeing to use the MACC during future large-scale emergencies. For more information, please contact Dan Nietsche, emergency preparedness coordinator.
