Millinocket accepts $70,000 grant for emergency system

MILLINOCKET – With $70,000 in hand Wednesday from Brookfield Power Co., town officials hope to have a new computerized emergency notification system for Millinocket, Medway and the Katahdin region’s unincorporated areas surrounding Millinocket operational by January.

Town Manager Eugene Conlogue accepted the check from Brookfield General Manager Dave Preble during a Wednesday morning press conference. He said he hoped to meet with representatives of the system’s hardware and software vendor next month.

The town will start working with various organizations hoping to use the system – including Millinocket Regional Hospital, schools, Department of Public Works, residents of areas prone to flooding – over the next several weeks, Conlogue said.

“Anyone who has a legitimate need to be on the list will be on it,” Conlogue said Wednesday.

Imagine any form of disaster that might occur in the region – a huge break in Ripogenus Dam, a mass casualty incident, or threat of one, at a public school – and any form of lesser evil, such as school closings, and you have a pretty good idea of how helpful the system can be.

Capable initially of passing critical information on to 400 people an hour via e-mail, telephone calls or pages, the notification system is paid for by Brookfield’s Sustainable Development Initiative grant. It will be operated by its users and its computers will be maintained at the hospital’s data center.

East Millinocket will not benefit from the system because its Board of Selectmen voted against funding the town’s participation in it, Conlogue said.

The SDI grant is a Brookfield program wherein the electric utility works with local governments and social service agencies to solve common problems.

The genesis of the system’s use locally is Millinocket’s flooding problems along Millinocket Stream and the realization that no effective means existed for massive local notification in the event of an emergency.

The grant pays for the system’s first year of operation. Its users, including local governments, the hospital and schools, will share the $16,000 annual operational costs for year two.

The users also will form a governance board to oversee the system’s usage. That should happen this fall, Conlogue said.

The users, Preble said, feel that 400 calls an hour is a good start. The system can be upgraded as the need arises.