Search and Rescue gear
activities back to normal. He explained that Yankton County at this
time is working in this phase after the April flooding. His team is
gathering the information on what damages have been done with the
infrastructure of Yankton County. The department has a technological,
very advanced way of collecting this data necessary.
He explains that Yankton County has a LEOP, or a Local Emergency
Operations Plan. The plan covers every natural disaster, including such
detail as how sirens are activated during a storm warning. There are
“trigger points” for each situation; the trigger points involve a checklist
breaking down different components of the situation to help determine
when they might need to increase the help or materials they need.
Scherschligt explained it further, using the Jim River or Missouri River
as an example. The rivers rise; when one gets to a certain level, his team
starts to look further into the situation. If the river keeps going up,
they’ll have meetings with various people to determine what’s going
on, who it’s affecting and how it’s affecting them. As it continues to rise,
it heightens the situation to move up to the next trigger point.
Scherschligt gives a view of an Emergency Operations Center
The team also looks at those four previously mentioned
components in emergency situations outside of a natural disaster,
including plans for active shooter, civil disturbance, mass fatality and
hazmat plans. Details, or tactics, are included on how to handle each
situation.
“There’s got to be at least 50 different facets of the plan that we have
to look at,” Scherschligt explains. “It isn’t just us. I have to orchestrate
the plan; I have to put it together. We have a committee called the local
emergency planning committee that works together to help look at
things.” As he explained the many duties that he and his team cover
in keeping our community safe, I appreciated the responsibility, detail
and teamwork of so many that go into this.
This team also assists Scherschligt in providing education
to businesses on various issues such as how to recover from an
emergency or how to initiate a plan for one. His new goal is to educate
vSCHERSCHLIGT continued on page 14
When you want brand-name sunwear,
choose Vision Care Associates
www.visioncareassociates.net
605.665.2020
2701 Fox Run Parkway, Yankton, SD 57078
A S S O C I AT E S
Dr. Steven Anderson, Dr. Aaron Feser, Dr. Laura Slowey
HERVOICEvMAY/JUNE 2019v9