Unfortunately, the recent very dangerous Ocotillo Fire demonstrated that our Town has no plan in place to communicate continuing current information on the status of a fire to all of our residents. A glaring lack of leadership! We need to immediately change this! We must implement an Emergency Response Plan designed to communicate continuing current information on the status of any emergency to all of our residents.
We should immediately engage an Incident Commander who would be responsible for all aspects of an emergency response; including quickly developing incident objectives, managing all incident operations, application of resources as well as responsibility for all persons involved. The Incident Commander sets priorities and defines the organization of the incident response team and the overall incident action plan. Cave Creek would then have a plan in place for all emergencies.
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
The council is charged with the health, safety and welfare of the residents and should lead by example. Each and every council member should personally insure that their property has a defensible area clear of Globe Chamomile. Once that is accomplished, the Town should do the same and remove miles of Globe Chamomile from the Town’s right-of-way. The Town should also take steps to implement a regulation that prevents the dangerous consequences of welding or metal grinding during high fire danger warnings.
As a Councilwoman in the summer of 2017, I brought forward an Ordinance to prohibit fireworks anywhere in the Town during periods of high fire danger warnings which was approved by the Town. (Ordinance #02017-007). Once all of these protective measures are in place, we would have a chance to preserve our Cave Creek way of life.
Eileen Wright
Mayoral candidate
