Friday, May 3, 2024
Many local residents know Bob Harrell as the Coryell County emergency management director, but he has recently moved to a new role — serving as the county liaison officer for the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
Harrell is still working to help prepare and protect local residents from disasters, and also helping with recovery efforts. He still has the same office in the Coryell County Annex. But his new job will help enable him to tap into state resources to assist local residents more efficiently.
"Preparedness is my focus, and I'm also responsible for response and initial steps of recovery," Harrell said during a recent meeting of the Gatesville Lions Club. "I also focus on how we mitigate (emergency) circumstances before they occur."
Harrell said many of the same problem areas are recurring concerns — some roads, low-water crossings and other infrastructure.
He said current emergency risks local residents face include tornadoes, fires, extreme weather conditions, nuclear threats and disease.
"We have a lot of threats from pandemics (such as COVID-19)," Harrell said. He referred to a version of COVID that was engineered in a Boston University lab and has had an 80% kill rate in mice it has been tested on. He questioned why such a thing was ever created when it could be a future threat to people.
Harrell also referred to the reappearance of diseases such as polio and smallpox, which he said "should have been eradicated from the world a long time ago."
He also works with local school districts to help prevent tragedies such as active shooter incidents like the Uvalde tragedy, which occurred earlier this year.
"Nothing is infallible, but we can do our best to prevent those things through security, training and drills," Harrell said.
One of the problems that can occur is a loss of communications when tragedy strikes and power grids go offline. Amateur radio operators, using batteries and other alternative power sources, such as solar-powered generators, can continue to keep communications going even when there is no electricity and the internet is inaccessible.
Harrell said there is a local group of about 25 amateur radio (also known as ham radio) operators who are active and sometimes work with emergency response personnel.
"We're trying to get younger folks involved — that's our future," Harrell said.
Active sunspots can result in "coronal mass injections" and these solar storms can disrupt conventional power sources, cause blackouts and prevent the usual methods of communication — including via cell phones, Harrell said. There are also potential threats from both natural and manmade disasters. Harrell said the ability to maintain communications during extreme conditions or disasters is an invaluable service that amateur radio operators provide.
Harrell also talked about the importance of being prepared to respond to potential disasters, which can also help families, neighbors and the community.
"Communities — especially in places like this — are all big families," Harrell said. "Look to see what's important and the items and things you might need if there is an emergency — and you can help take care of someone else, too."
He noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends people have a minimum supply of three days of food in case of emergency. But Harrell said to be better prepared people should at least double or triple that amount.
"You can survive three minutes without oxygen, three days without water and three weeks without food," he said.
He recommended people visit the FEMA website to get an idea of items they may need to prepare for emergencies.
Looking ahead, Harrell said he expects one of the threats to the community will be a resurgence of COVID.
"I'm expecting another surge as we enter the winter months," he said. "The virus mutates so fast, we don't know what the next variant is going to do. We're just that one inch away from a pandemic."
Harrell said it is the threat of widespread outbreaks of disease that is among his biggest concerns.
"Those are the things that keep me up at night," he said.
While emergency situations cannot always be presented, preparation can help reduce their impact, Harrell said.
