Cape County says mass fatality trailer ready to deploy, if needed

Cape Girardeau County is the caretaker of a trailer housed next to the coroner’s office on North West End Boulevard in Cape Girardeau with a demonstrated purpose to be used whenever disasters take many lives.

The “mass fatality trailer” is considered a “state asset,” according to the county’s emergency management agency (EMA) director Mark Winkler.

Winkler informed the Cape Girardeau County Commission on Thursday if a request is made to the Missouri EMA, the trailer might be deployed to a COVID hot zone elsewhere in the state.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 32 people have died in the state in the past seven days because of COVID-19 — with no new fatalities in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties reported.

By contrast, in Greene County, the Springfield, Missouri, area, 10 new COVID deaths have been recorded in the past week.

While the pandemic is top-of-mind now, other disasters, such as an earthquake or a tornado, could also require the use of the 16-foot trailer, Winkler said.

“To my knowledge the trailer, which we took possession of in 2013, has never left the county except for training and exercises,” he said.

Winkler said former Coroner John Clifton spoke up for the trailer, effectively a “chiller,” which can hold the bodies of as many as 24 deceased people at any one time.

“When there is a disaster, funeral homes in an area can be overwhelmed,” added Winkler, who before coming to Cape Girardeau County in 2018 worked for more than 28 years as regional coordinator for Missouri EMA’s Region E.

Winkler pointed out the county expended no money toward the $24,000 trailer.

“The funding came as federal pass-through dollars from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” he said.

Winkler and Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Charlie Herbst sit on the Regional Homeland Security Oversight Committee (RHSOC) for Southeast Missouri’s 13-county region.

“As a region, and we’re one of 10 in Missouri, we are better prepared than most for disasters,” Winkler said.