by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
As chief of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department’s Emergency Preparedness Division and Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Martin Senterfitt and his staff of around 20 people make their living making sure Jacksonville is ready for any disaster. Their call to action might be the result of a man-made event or – as is the case in Northeast Florida – a hurricane making landfall in the region.
Three weeks and a day into the 2009 hurricane season, Senterfitt was the guest speaker at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville. He’s a 21-year veteran with JFRD and assumed his two roles with the organization last June.
Senterfitt told Rotary members he’s confident the City is prepared to provide assistance to citizens if a disaster strikes, but that he’s worried many people wouldn’t be properly prepared because of the belief that “it can’t happen here.”
If it “were to happen here,” though, geography would play a part in how Jacksonville recovers, he said.
“Duval County is much like an island,” said Senterfitt. “We’re an urban coastal county but the counties surrounding us are mostly rural and don’t have many resources we could call on if we needed assistance.”
Jacksonville’s consolidated system of government, however, is an advantage. Senterfitt said state law requires county governments to take the lead in the event of a disaster. In all other counties in Florida, that can mean confusion or worse. Some counties in South Florida have more than 30 municipalities in a single county that have to work together to help their communities recover from a disaster.
“It can become a constant struggle, especially when politics and infighting begin. With our consolidated government, we can all pull together and government can speak with one voice,” he added.
Ignorance and complacency are the two things that most concern Senterfitt. It has been 45 years since a major storm hit the area – Hurricane Dora in 1964 – so most people have no concept of what it’s like to recover from a natural disaster.
“If you go back to 1900, statistics show Jacksonville is less likely to be hit by a hurricane than any other area,” he said. “But, between 1875 and 1900 we had our clock cleaned five times and if you go all the way back to 1850 we are just as likely as anywhere to be hit by a hurricane.”
Senterfitt also pointed to a recent survey of Duval County residents that asked several questions about how well individuals are prepared for an emergency.
“One of the questions asked was ‘Do you live in an evacuation zone?’ More than 40 percent of the people surveyed did not answer that question correctly,” said Senterfitt.
If a disaster strikes there will be only two kinds of people in Jacksonville, he added.
“There will be the victims who ignored the warnings and failed to prepare. Twelve hours after a storm hits they will be looking for someone to provide them with food and water. The other group is what I call ‘the survivors.’ They recognize the chances are low that we’ll be hit by a hurricane but they prepare anyway. After the storm passes they’ll be checking on their neighbors and the community.”
The best way to explain what a major hurricane can do if it made landfall in the region, he said, is to remember the effects of Tropical Storm Faye from last year – though, that experience doesn’t even come close to what the term “disaster” means.
“Jacksonville has the worst tree fall problem in the state. Tropical Storm Faye caused 350,000 cubic yards of debris that had to be picked up. It took 200 trucks more than seven days to haul off all the branches after the debris had been cleared,” he said. “The Army Corps of Engineers produced a computer model to predict the effects of a Category 3 hurricane hitting Jacksonville.
“It predicted 13.5 million cubic yards of tree debris and that’s only one element of what we’d be dealing with. In terms of things we take for granted like electricity, the realistic expectation for after a hurricane is to count power outages in weeks, not days.”
While many Rotarians, when asked, admitted they could be better prepared for a natural disaster, Larry Cates, a guest at Monday’s meeting said: “Every year at the first of June we go to Sam’s (Club) or BJ’s (Wholesale Club) and stock up on supplies. Then, in November when hurricane season is over and we didn’t need it, we donate the food to charity.”
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