Man seeks civil defense answers

In what is likely a first, a Custer County resident wanted to give more money to the county at the Oct. 4 meeting of the Custer County Commission.
“Honey, give me the checkbook,” Craig Willan said to his wife after making an impassioned plea regarding civil defense in the county to the commission.
The checkbook didn’t come out, but the commission and county emergency management director both told Willan they appreciated the gesture, sought his input and assured him the county is prepared for disaster.
Willan was on the commission’s Oct. 4 agenda to discus civil defense, and Willan, who said he is retired from working on “aircraft, missiles and space” and also served on the Flight Safety Board for Bell Helicopters, said the county needs to have plans down on paper for a variety of disaster scenarios.
Willan laid out several different scenarios, from major fuel spills to nuclear war, for which the commission should have a plan. He took exception to the fact the city’s siren system isn’t working, saying the sirens had not gone off in half a year.
“You know when you hear the siren someone is in control,” he said. “It gives you confidence the powers that be, paid and volunteer, are working.”
Willan said he had heard unsatisfactory answers as to why the sirens aren’t working.
Willan said the siren system is not dead, and that the system is a sophisticated and entrusted way to let people know something bad is happening. At that point, he said, people can head to social media, the news, etc., to find out what is happening.
The sirens around were acquired by the City of Custer through a grant, and county emergency management director Steve Esser said he had been battling getting the sirens working all at the same time since he began the job two and a half years ago.
“Once I get one thing fixed another goes bad,” he said.
There are five sirens in town, and as of now, only the one at Gates Park and Pageant Hill work.
Esser said governments used to be able to get grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security for funds for siren repairs, but that it’s “next to impossible now.”
Esser said a charging unit for the siren on Boot Hill was ordered three months ago, and it still hasn’t arrived.
“I don’t have any control over that,” he said.
Willan asked Esser the cost of repairs for one of the sirens, which Esser said he was unsure of, but that a cost of replacing a siren was $25,000.
That was when Willan called to his wife for the checkbook.
Esser and the commission assured Willan he was not expected to foot the bill.
“I can ease some of your concerns,” commission chairman Jim Lintz said. “Along with the fire departments and emergency management, we go over this stuff all the time.”
Willan said he went to the county’s website, but could not find the local emergency operations plan. Esser said that is because of some of the items contained in the plan.
“If you want to come look at it we can sit down,” he said. “Does it need to be updated? Absolutely. They do in every county. There is always something that can be done to improve it.”
Willan self-described himself as “paranoid” when it comes to civil defense, but urged the county to be forward thinking in planning for disaster and not end up like Lahaina, Hawaii, where people are pointing fingers and being fired following the massive fire there.
“Please listen. If it doesn’t happen, prove me wrong, badge of honor,” he said. “I just want to help.”