County renews emergency bus deal
MOSES LAKE — Grant County Emergency Management is renewing its agreement with the county’s transit agency to allow the sheriff’s department to use buses in the event of an emergency.
“This is an emergency services agreement,” said Brandy Heston, administrative services manager for the Grant County Transit Authority (GTA). “In the event of disaster, like flood, that there’s a need to evacuate people.”
The agreement is changing, however, the reflect the fact the county’s emergency management office is folded into the Sheriff’s Department, Heston said.
“This is something we worked on for some time, to use transit authority buses in the event we need to evacuate people,” said Sandy Duffey, the current director of Grant County Emergency Management.
Duffey said that buses would most likely be used to evacuate people during fires or floods, though the agreement also states that neither buses nor drivers will be put in harm’s way.
Duffey also said evacuating people in the event of chemical release is also being considered, though it will be an unlikely response given that any chemical could move faster than a bus could.
Grant County is host to more than 200 companies that store hazardous chemicals.
“Anytime it is easier to move people rather than have them shelter in place,” Duffey said.
According to Kathy Jess, the GTA’s operations manager, the transit agency has 24 buses, about 12-14 of which are on the road during a typical weekday plying the county’s 17 bus routes.
Duffey said that in the event of an emergency, the county will only ask for buses not in use in routes.
“We’re not stopping service,” she said.
The county also has an informal agreement with several school districts to provide school buses for evacuation in the event of emergency, Duffey said.
Duffey explained that the agreement comes up for periodic review to update the fee schedule, given that fuel costs and labor costs change over time.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com