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BY KEN KOSKY
kkosky@nwitimes.com
219.462.5151 | Monday, January 17, 2005 | (No comments posted.)
VALPARAISO | The Porter County Environmental Department has spent years protecting the county by responding to hazardous material spills.
Now, in addition to being prepared to handle accidents, the department must be trained and ready to respond if an act of terrorism or weapons of mass destruction affect the area.
As a result, the department has traded its two old minivans for two 2005 Ford Excursion sport utility vehicles.
At $46,000 each -- $54,000 equipped -- the SUVs will be able to carry all the equipment needed to provide an initial response to any call.
Porter County Environmental Coordinator Russell Shirley said no money was taken from Porter County's general fund to pay for the vehicles. A U.S. Homeland Security grant paid for the vehicles, equipment and 100,000-mile warranties.
"Now we have response trucks," Shirley said.
Shirley and Assistant Environmental Coordinator Greg Eckhardt have had recurring transmission problems with their old minivans because they weren't designed to carry the weight and volume of equipment necessary to do the job. The new vehicles are four-wheel drive and have diesel engines, so they might be able to reach remote places the minivans could not.
The SUVs are white and have Porter County Environmental and hazmat lettering on the sides. The backs of the vehicles have emergency response team and weapons of mass destruction lettering.
Porter County Emergency Management Agency Director Phil Griffith said the county received more than $1.2 million in Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Terrorism Training grants in 2003 and 2004. He said the money has been or will be used to purchase 22 early warning sirens for the county, all-terrain vehicles to patrol the Lake Michigan shoreline and an air and light trailer to fill the air bottles of firefighters and divers. The money also was allocated to pay for training and to purchase generators and other necessities.
Griffith said emergency response agencies from across the county worked together to allocate the funds.
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