New Mexico responders share new technology and information with public and local industry | 01.17.2007 | 07:04:17 | Views: 5043 | ID: January 17 '07: In San Juan County, New Mexico, local first responders and emergency management officials participated in an annual show-and-tell seminar with the public and area oil and chemical industry leaders, the Daily Times reported. The goal of the event was to educate public and industry leaders about the advances in technology and training acquired through federal grant purchases. The educational session in Farmington, New Mexico was organized by the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). Traci Hearn, the emergency management coordinator for San Juan County told the Daily Times that it was important to inform industry and citizens about the equipment available and ready to use during a disaster. Serendipitously, the day the educational seminar was held, oil and hazardous material companies had to report their security improvements and inventories for Tier 2. Mike Mestas, a HazMat coordinator told the Daily Times that the significance of the day "was that each year, the Local Emergency Planning Committee mandates that there's a Tier 2 reporting day for every industry and each company that carries (a certain threshold) of hazardous materials to report each January to their inventory to the county and the state." Having Tier 2 helps to take all the information gathered to then use in a localized database. Knowing the current state of the industries in the area and having those industries understand the capabilities of the first responders, cooperation between the two during a disaster can be improved greatly, emergency management officials said.
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