Vargo: 9/11 Attacks Forever Changed Emergency Services
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WHEELING -- Following the attacks on Sept.11, 2001, concepts of emergency management changed dramatically. And they didn't just change on the national level. Even down to the local level, emergency management administrators had to pivot in the way they went about their jobs.
"It's been the largest change in the 30 years that I've been doing this," said Lou Vargo, Ohio County's head of emergency management
Vargo added that those changes did more than just fortify how departments dealt with man-made or terrorist attacks. The changes that came have improved emergency management in multiple categories.
The development of federal and state departments of homeland security was a crucial step in advancing emergency management post-9/11, Vargo said. The federal department then sent grant money to the states to distribute in their borders.
"What West Virginia did is took a lot of that money and, instead of just giving it out and saying just go buy what you want, they developed regional response teams that were specially trained for chemical, biological and nuclear/radiological incidents," Vargo said. "We have one of those teams with the Wheeling Fire Department."
Communication between safety departments also improved after Sept. 11, Vargo said. The 9/11 Commission that was formed following the attacks found that the New York police and fire departments could not communicate with each other.
Ohio County joined the West Virginia Statewide Interoperable Radio Network and a regional communications network was created. After that, any Ohio County police officer, firefighter, EMS personnel or school bus driver could talk to each other on the same radio system. That then expanded into Brooke and Marshall counties.
That move made a positive mark on events beyond any attacks like Sept. 11. Vargo said that, when the Strauss recycling plant caught fire last weekend, that regional network allowed for a much smoother process in getting emergency service personnel from throughout the Northern Panhandle to the site of the fire.
"We had people coming from all different counties and they could all talk to each other," Vargo said. "It didn't matter which county they were from. That was one of the biggest things that came about."