Buckeye Lake evacuation drill runs smoothly

BUCKEYE LAKE – Emergency personnel and Buckeye Lake residents got their first look at what an evacuation of the area would look like should a breach in the 4.1-mile dam occur.

Although the water at Buckeye Lake has been lowered to winter-pool levels, there is still a risk that the dam could fail, which could endanger the lives of about 3,000 people.

"This is really testing our response time and gives us an opportunity to see how the Red Cross goes through their process and what a shelter looks like," said Sean Grady, director of the Licking County Emergency Management Agency. "We expect to learn a few lessons today."

The drill kicked off about 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Buckeye Lake Estates, as the alarm rang out, warning of a breach in the dam. For residents signed up for the emergency notification system, the alarm was quickly followed by a phone call and text message to further alert them of the dam failure.

Personnel with the Buckeye Lake Village Fire Department arrived to the area within about 10 minutes to help direct people to the evacuation point. From there, buses arrived to transport residents to Millersport High School, where an emergency shelter had been set up.

Upon arriving at the shelter, volunteers with the Red Cross took over to check in residents, gathering names, addresses and phone numbers before directing them to the shelter set up in the school's gymnasium.

In the first 24 hours, emergency shelters can only be described as "organized chaos," said Rod Cook, executive director for the American Red Cross of East and South Central Ohio. But everything seemed to be going smoothly during the drill, he said.

The Red Cross is able to mobilize volunteers from four counties and could have several hundred volunteers ready to go if the dam failed, Cook said, helping care for victims and first responders as well.

"We're making sure that we have all of our protocols down. ... It's good to be able to show the community that these systems are in place to take care of them," Cook said.

Ohio EMA officials know that it's not just people who have to evacuate during an emergency, but their pets as well. Several volunteers brought along their dogs, and even a goat, to help animal care volunteers practice processing pets into a shelter.

All pets were assigned a number and given a band to wear around their necks. Volunteers also took a picture of each pet with its owners to help further identify each animal.

The drill was completed just before 11 a.m., with 42 volunteers, 7 residents of Buckeye Lake estates and 10 animals participating.

Nancy and Rodger James live in Buckeye Lake Estates and were glad that they took part in the drill.

"We wanted to see what it would be like, what we should expect," Nancy said. "I think it went well."

"It made us feel better," Rodger added.

If there was one criticism he could make, though, it would be about the volume of the siren. Rodger wears a hearing aid, and even with it, he had a hard time hearing the siren.

Fairfield County EMA Director Jon Kochis was happy with how the drill played out.

"We tried to make elements of this as real as possible. Now we'll be meeting to identify things that need some improvement. There's still some work to be done," he said. "This was a good learning experience, and I think we'll get some good feedback from it."

In addition to the drill, Ohio EMA staff will host a "show and tell" on May 30 to help residents familiarize themselves with equipment that would be used in the case of a dam breach.

State officials also will conduct a traffic study July 3 as visitors leave the Buckeye Lake fireworks show to get an idea of how a large number of vehicles leaves the area.

emaddern@gannett.com

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Twitter: @emmaddern