The city of Sedona is revamping its emergency processes as more residents voice concerns over increased wildfire dangers.
At a special meeting on Thursday, April 27, Sedona Police Department Chief Charles Husted and Deputy City Manager Joanne Keene updated the Sedona City Council on the Emergency Operations Plan, Community Emergency Preparedness Guide and Evacuation Pilot Program.
Emergency Plans
The city now has two main plans for emergencies. The emergency operations plan focuses on how the police department and Sedona Fire District respond to evacuations and emergencies around the city, while the Community Preparedness Guide pertains to the residents’ response.
“There’s some idea that the emergency operations plan is the community’s plan, and it’s not,” Husted said. “It’s a governing document for those of us in the emergency operation field, those of us with responsibilities to declare hazards and respond.”
Husted was asked by the city to help update the emergency operation plan. For the past few months, he has been reviewing the language and the logistics of the plan for potential updates.
“As many of you know, the story is that the chief was hired, and handed a binder with our old emergency plan and asked to update it,” Keene said. “And during that process, the chief found many things that we didn’t have for plans that fed into that emergency operations plan.”
After reviewing the operations plan, Husted looked to the city’s other plans and procedures as well. Now, the city has a separate plan for residents during emergencies. Under the name Ready Sedona, the city’s Community Preparedness Guide lays out steps for residents to take. This plan covers an array of different emergency situations and actions for residents.
“This plan really helps our community members to go through step by step. It’s an all-hazards approach,” Husted said. “It’s not just about wildfire. It’s about all sorts of things, even an earthquake. And [it is] just to really think about what emergency preparedness looks like for a community member.”
In the past few months, the preparedness guide came together through various meetings with Sedona Police Department, Sedona Fire District, the counties, community members and city staff. It highlights responses for residents during emergencies, such as active shooters, floods, wildfires and more.
With these new and updated plans also came new a hazard and risk assessment, which will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who have expressed interested in Northern Arizona emergency response programs. The risk analysis is expected to be done within three to six months.
The Yavapai County Emergency Operations Plan and Sedona Emergency Response and Recovery Plan helped influence both the city’s operations plan and preparedness guide. Both the county’s EOP and SERRP give the city authority in the event of an emergency.
Evacuation Pilot Program
On top of the adopted plans, the city wanted to assess evacuation routes for residents. The Coconino County Emergency Management Director Wes Dison partnered with Greenlight Traffic Engineering for the Uptown and Brewer Road pilot evacuation program. This program maps out potential evacuation and re-entry systems for this part of the city.
“We are working hard to find the right balance of what is cost-effective, what is most beneficial to the actual needs of an evacuation plan and how to best provide for public safety,” Dison said. “The plan will be a key piece to help determine what equipment may be necessary, what procedures they can implement and how best to accomplish the effort.
According to Sedona staff, the pilot program will be finished towards the end of 2022 with an expected budget of $95,000, but Dison feels it may be sooner than that. An internal city staff meeting happened on Monday, May 2, where more specific goals were set about the modeling.
After the pilot program is completed, residents in these neighborhoods will have access to their new routes.
At the meeting on April 27, council members gave overall approval for the new plans and procedures.
“Together we can help ensure the readiness and resiliency of our incredible city,” City Manager Karen Osburn said.
