Mt St Helens 18 May 1980 0832

1
Mt St Helens18 May 1980 0832

• Some experiences of the
• Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office

2
The Eruption

• 5.2 earthquake
• Lateral blast from north side of Mt
• Largest landside in world history
• Over 50 people, citizens, lost their lives

3

• Initial response was a SAR
• Radio IN-operability
• Securing the area
• Its headed your way!
• Communications, communications, communications

4
What we had

• Minimal local resources
• Good common sense leadership
• Extraordinary emergency responders
• Extraordinary citizen involvement
• Willingness to work as a team

5
What we didnt have

• Communications, communications, communications
• Redundancy
• Alternative communications
• Money

6
Communications

• Most agencies were VHF
• Two neighbors were UHF
• Most did NOT have others frequencies
• No Communications Plan
• No mobile assets

7
Lessons learned (?)

• In EVERY incident debriefing, the 1 issue
  brought up..
• COMMUNICATIONS
• Build a Plan (dynamic)
• Train on the Plan
• Work your Plan