Public Safety Department Says Record Year for Disasters Means State is Ready

The state Department of Public Safety says residents can put faith into the state’s emergency response capabilities. Spokesman Terri Durdaller says that’s because last year was the busiest disaster period on record with 7 open disasters. She says state responders were able to fine tune their procedures in these smaller disasters, which she says served as real life tests for the state’s emergency response units. Durdaller says the state has responded to the multiple disaster exercises by updating its Emergency Operations Plan with an Earthquake response, with dedicated grant funds to help further communication between various operations and with increased levels of exercise training for local and state officials.