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John “Jack” Helin
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TAB 5
The Chieftain (Bonner Springs, KS)
March 22, 2010
City to Prepare Itself for Future Emergencies
By Melissa Treolo
The multiple multi-car pileups on Valentine’s Day may have taken Bonner Springs by surprise,
but city manager John “Jack” Helin says the city will take steps to make sure it is better
prepared for such emergencies in the future.
“I think everybody did a great job out there but we certainly identified some areas we need to
improve on,” Helin said during Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Those areas the city would be making improvements to, Helin said, would include getting an
emergency command post vehicle installed and also creating more opportunities for emergency
training.
Helin said to keep costs down, the best way to install an emergency command post vehicle that
could be used by all public safety departments would be using either a retired ambulance vehicle
or Tiblow Transit bus. Installing the proper equipment in the chosen vehicle would incur some
costs, Helin said, but he didn’t yet have those estimates finalized at the meeting.
All public safety staff has gone through some emergency training, Helin said, but additional
training opportunities that would allow for more practice in emergency situations would make all
the staff better prepared to respond to emergencies like the pileups in the future.
“It’s complicated and you’ve got to practice is what it boils down to,” Helin said. “We’re always
looking for how we can get better, how we can do better, and that’s what we’re going to be
looking at.” Helin said more details about the city’s plans for emergency-preparedness would be
discussed and finalized in future meetings.
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