City ponders buying cut-rate FEMA trailers for mobile command posts

Cape Girardeau County emergency officials are onto another bargain.

Three months after buying 200 cases of military Meals Ready to Eat for $15 each from the State Agency for Surplus Property, emergency operations director David Hitt was given permission to pursue the purchase of travel trailers being discarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The trailers, of an unknown brand but listed as new or like new, are 23 to 26 feet long. The price is $2,500 each.

After doing some checking, Hitt told the Cape Girardeau County Commission Thursday that Sheriff John Jordan is interested in a trailer, as are the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and the Jackson Fire Department.

The trailers are large enough to be used as mobile command posts in an emergency, Hitt said, and cheap enough to be worth the money.

Commmissioners at first seemed split on whether to approve the purchase.

"It is reasonable, but do we need another toy?" asked Commissioner Larry Bock.

The question isn't whether it is a toy, Commissioner Jay Purcell replied, but whether the trailers would make a difference in an emergency. "When things are going fine, it doesn't seem important," he said. "But if there was a tornado across the other side of the county, we would need it."

Purcell also suggested that Hitt ask Charlotte Craig, director of the county health department, if her agency needed a trailer as well. Hitt said Thursday afternoon that Craig "is very interested in getting one."

County employees would have to travel to Marion, Ind., to retrieve the trailers.

To qualify, the county needed to detail the uses of the trailer, Hitt said. "From my standpoint, the only use I could see is as a command and communications site set-up."

Any trailer purchased must be modified for its intended use within 12 months and must be used for at least 18 months beyond that date, Hitt said.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department could use the trailer when emergencies create the need for a response that lasts longer than the average fire call, assistant chief Mark Hashheider said. The price is right, he said.

"We are just looking at the feasibility of being able to utilize it," he said. "We are entertaining the possibility."

Hashheider was interviewed by the Southeast Missourian by telephone while he attended a conference and trade show for emergency operations equipment in Branson, Mo. "I am sitting in a 40-foot trailer with $1 million worth of electronics," he said. "What we envision is a very downscaled type of system."

The trailer purchases could be one of Hitt's last actions as emergency operations chief. He is retiring as of April 30.

Commissioners discussed Thursday how to replace Hitt, deciding to advertise throughout the region for a replacement. They decided to appoint an interim director to take over Hitt's duties until a permanent replacement can be hired, a process estimated at 60 to 90 days.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126