Fla. Region`s First Responders Credit Experience in Hurricane Matthew Response

Oct. 20--From the Treasure Coast to the Space Coast, first responders and residents say their hurricane experiences in 2004 and 2005 better prepared them for Hurricane Matthew.

And many didn't fault forecasters despite a last-minute shift meant Matthew didn't deliver to the area the brutal strike that had been predicted.

"Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne (in September 2004), for us, did what it did for many other agencies and even the general public," said Fire Chief Buddy Emerson of the St. Lucie County Fire District. "It created a level of awareness ... for us to survive these types of events we've got to take some proactive measures."

In Brevard County, as on the Treasure Coast, there was extensive interaction among state and county agencies, law enforcement and volunteer groups before, during and after Matthew traveled the coast Oct. 7.

"I think it was a really good coordination between all those agencies," said Brevard County Commission Chairman Jim Barfield. "It's a huge logistical nightmare, but everybody knew what to do. Everyone worked together as a team."

Keeping focused, being prepared and coordinating local and state efforts is a lesson learned statewide when a monster storm strikes Florida. Although not all of the state's 67 counties have experienced a forceful hurricane, all can look to those who have and apply those lessons to themselves, officials said.

Emerson said after the 2004 hurricanes the fire district created a more refined hurricane standard operating guideline that set out detailed policies and procedures.

"It basically is a checklist for every station officer and every division within the fire district's command structure to know what steps to take in preparation for an emergency and then the tactics to be employed," he said.

After those hurricanes, which tore off a portion of one fire station roof in Port St. Lucie, Emerson's agency applied for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that allowed them to make improvements at more than 10 stations to make them more hurricane resistant.

In contrast, Brevard County has been trying to get funding for years for a new Emergency Operations Center where 200 people work during a storm.

"One of the things that didn't go well (during Hurricane Matthew) is the facility," Brevard County Emergency Management Director Kimberly Prosser said.

Power and phone lines went out for about a half-hour as the storm was passing through the county. Prosser said a transfer switch that would allow the emergency generator to supply power to the center wasn't recognizing that the power was out, and someone had to go outside in the high winds and heavy rain to manually override the system. Additionally, one of the center's Wi-Fi routers was out, there were leaks in the building, air conditioning was out of operation for about 12 hours and there were plumbing problems in the women's restroom.

Emerson of St. Lucie County said command staff during Hurricane Matthew were mid-level managers during the earlier storms, making them better attuned to what the command requirements needed to be.

"When we set our plan in motion it was like we had done it yesterday, that's how smoothly it went," Emerson said. "Everybody knew what the plan was, everybody knew what to do, everybody was on the same page, there was no debating back and forth."

Take it in stride

Increased storm planning wasn't limited to first responders.

Standing in a Publix parking lot in Stuart, Paul Christensen, 70, said the twin hurricanes of 2004 "caught us off guard." He said his community in Stuart has had a hurricane preparedness committee since 2007.

"We were really prepared. Every year we meet. We get a plan," he said. "We'd have Martin County Fire (Rescue) come in and give us updates."

He said storms in following years, such as Tropical Storm Fay in 2008, showed them low spots in their community and flood pumps needing repair.

Christensen also said after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 he noticed people getting shutters and new roofs.

"I think that's what really saved it this time," he said. "I think people had hardened their houses a little better."

Christensen said he thought work with the hurricane preparedness committee was a sound investment.

"The idea was to watch your neighbor," Christensen said. "And I think that was the biggest thing."

Fran Caswell, 70, who has lived in Stuart for 40 years, said she thought shipments of food and water arrived regularly at Publix, which differed from earlier storms.

Caswell didn't notice greater amounts of anxiety in people during this storm.

"I think everybody kind of took it in stride," Caswell said. "You can't fight something like that other than being prepared for it."

Ominous threats

Twenty-four hours before Matthew grazed the area as a Category 3 storm, the National Weather Service issued an ominous advisory. It stated "catastrophic damage" was a possibility, "loss of life" and "immense human suffering" could occur and the storm could "leave areas uninhabitable for weeks." At the time of the warnings, it was a Category 4 storm.

Gov. Rick Scott stopped in a number of locations along Florida's east coast to hold briefings with emergency officials and news conferences. He issued strong warnings about the need to evacuate from the barrier islands, including Merritt Island, Orchid Island and Hutchinson Island.

"(The governor) alerted people as to the seriousness and the magnitude of the storm," said Brevard County Manager Stockton Whitten. "People paid attention to the governor."

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said he asked one of his captains if he had "body bags" because there would be fatalities of residents in mobile home parks if the area got 140 mph winds as forecast. His concern was mobile and manufactured homes that weren't built to withstand a Category 4 hurricane.

"When I made that comment, we knew at the time that there were people telling our deputies they weren't going to evacuate," Snyder said. "Had that storm finished off as forecast, we would've had fatalities here."

If the hurricane's impacts had been as bad as predicted, Snyder said, he would have to be answering why he didn't scare people more.

It appears most island residents of the Space and Treasure coasts evacuated, rescue and government officials said.

But a slight shift east, of about 20 miles, spared the area of massive destruction.

National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bragaw said a storm track 20 miles closer to the coast would have made for much more serious damage.

"It had been wobbling back and forth over several days," Brevard's Prosser said.

Some criticized forecasters, saying they were overly dire in predictions, but many disagreed.

In a Facebook post, Stephen Farinacci wrote, "Hurricane forecasting is not an exact science. When a storm is three days out, forecasters can predict its path within 100 miles. Every update I watched or read we were told that a slight jog to the east would be good for us and a slight jog to the west not so good. Around 2 a.m. Friday morning we saw the slight jog to the east. Had the Treasure Coast experienced a direct hit at 140 mph it would have been catastrophic. I think they nailed it."

Kathi DeGroat, also on Facebook, said the forecasts were "prudent," noting what happened in Haiti.

"We were so blessed that it wobbled and we were spared," said DeGroat, of Vero Beach. "Many of us are able to go back to our normal lives and were inconvenienced briefly."

Had the storm wobbled in a less favorable direction, emergency operators wanted their people in place to respond quickly after the winds died down.

Indian River County Fire Rescue officials scheduled double shifts to report before Matthew's winds affected the county, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Burkeen said. Paramedics also had three more ambulances available than they normally would have in a shift, he said.

"The storm came through at a time when we normally do a shift change," Burkeen said. "We had to have our shifts in place before the storm."

When the winds died down early on Oct. 7, emergency 911 operators had 100 calls holding that Fire Rescue couldn't respond to at the peak of the storm, Burkeen said. Fortunately, most of the calls were for minor issues, such as fire alarms, and none involved serious injury, he said.

Social media

In Port St. Lucie, Master Sgt. Frank Sabol, police spokesman, said Facebook was one avenue they used to get information to the public, which differed from earlier storms.

Social media played a key role in communicating, he said.

"Having that connect ... to offer encouragement and guidance from both the city and the Police Department to the citizens was pretty effective," Sabol said.

Likewise, in Brevard County, law enforcement and emergency officials made extensive use of social media to inform the public about the hurricane and the county's roads, shelters and evacuation orders. They used Facebook, Twitter and Nextdoor to answer questions from the public.

Prosser said that enabled the public to get the latest information in real time on their smartphones, even if their power was out.

While there can't be "an expectation that every Tweet is going to have perfect information," generally, residents got the best information that was available at a particular point in time, Brevard's Whitten said.

No madness

Sabol said he noticed less congestion at businesses like Home Depot, Walmart and Publix.

"I didn't see the madness that we saw back in 2004 and 2005," he said. "It seemed like people were prepared for a hurricane and when they noticed that one was coming they put their plans into action."

Emerson, the fire chief, said after the storm passed, his agency had just 12 medical calls. He attributed that to the community's awareness and planning to possibly be without power and air conditioning.

"Those people who have medical conditions or chronic conditions or need care, they were making the calls frequently last time, but that didn't happen this time," he said. "Either people evacuated or people were more prepared."

Staff writers Laurie K. Blandford and Lamaur Stancil, and Florida Today reporters Wayne T. Price and Dave Berman contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 - Treasure Coast Newspapers, Stuart, Fla.