It was not intended as a tribute to the 43 people who lost their lives in the Oso landslide, but the SR 530 Landslide Commission’s report to Gov. Jay Inslee and Snohomish County Executive John Lovick surely honors the lives lost as well as those who responded to the disaster that struck on March 22.
The report of more than 50 pages, released Monday, clearly states the lessons learned during the response that followed in the hours, days and weeks after the slide, making 17 recommendations that will require action by the governor, the Legislature, state and county officials and other agencies and groups.
The panel urged swift action on three “critical first steps”:
A statewide landslide hazard and risk mapping program, including the use of “lidar” (light detection and ranging) mapping of areas posing the greatest threat to lives and property;
Creation of a task force to study and make recommendations by December 2016 on the integration of and sustainable funding for the state’s Emergency Management System; and
Clarification of the state’s fire service mobilization law to ensure that frontline responders can mobilize “all-hazards” incident management overseen by the Washington State Patrol.
The last may be among the most pressing needs.
The day after the slide struck, the report says, Oso Fire Department Chief Willy Harper requested technical rescue support from a state Incident Management Team through the Northwest Regional coordinator for the Washington state Fire Defense Board. The Incident Management Teams, most often used during large wildfires, provide for mobilization of statewide resources and coordination of efforts.
But the WSP, on advice of its legal counsel that such a mobilization could leave the agency open to financial responsibility for the response because its help wasn’t being sought to fight a wildfire, denied the request. The decision delayed the arrival of technical rescue teams and additional equipment for the first responders on the scene.
Imagine being told not to pull a fire alarm during an earthquake.
The problem is an apparent lack of clarity in state law. In 1995, the Legislature adopted language in the law that broadened the availability of the teams beyond wildfire response to “an emergency and disaster situation that has exceeded the capabilities of available local resources.” While that language seems pretty clear — “And the Commission believes the Legislature spoke quite clearly to the issue in 1995,” it said — the report recommends that the Legislature remove all doubt and clarify the language to make it obvious that such teams can be mobilized for all disasters.
State Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, whose district includes the Stillaguamish Valley communities of Arlington, Oso and Darrington, told The Herald he will sponsor such a bill when the Legislature convenes in January.
Attention to these and the report’s 14 other recommendations, will honor the memory of those who died and those who responded to the landslide by better preparing us for any disaster that strikes in the state.
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