By Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Staff Writer
6/2/11
Should a large-scale emergency situation strike, Milton will be ready.
The town has created a committee of unified first responders that has now been certified by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

Members of the Milton Local Emergency Planning Committee met at the police station May 26, where they were sworn in by Town Clerk James Mullen Jr.

Douglas Forbes Jr., the local coordinator of Region II for MEMA, certified the committee, which is one of the few stand-alone groups in the state. Several other communities have joined forces for regional efforts.

The committee is chaired by police Sgt. Charles Caputo, who has been working to organize key members of the community to deal with unforeseen emergencies in town.

The state requires a rigorous certification process for emergency preparedness committees. Caputo worked hard to gain the status for the town.

The committee members include representatives from the town’s Police, Fire, Public Works, Health, Building, Emergency Management, School/Facilities and Auxiliary Fire departments; Milton Hospital; Milton Academy; Curry College; Fallon Ambulance; and amateur radio operators.

Police Chief Richard Wells Jr., before he held that position, organized a committee almost 10 years ago, in response to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Chuck [Caputo] was wonderful putting this group together,” said Forbes. “The application for certification was one of the best I’ve reviewed. The chief had put together the other group about 10 years ago, but it was time to be recertified.”

The committee holds various drills throughout the year, with a recent drill last October coming eerily close to a real situation the town faced a few months later.

“The practice drill dealt with a chemical exposure at Curry College, sending victims to Milton Hospital,” Caputo said. “Then in the winter, we had the real situation of Curry College hockey players who were sick arriving at the hospital.”

In that case, Curry players became ill after exposure to nitrogen dioxide fumes from a Zamboni at a game in Rhode Island in February. Some members of the committee were activated in that scenario.

Another recent case for the committee involved one of the many major snowstorms the town experienced last winter. An emergency shelter was needed for snowplow operators to rest between shifts during the long duration of the blizzard. The committee organized to set up cots at the high school and provide food and other necessities for the workers.

“We are really virgins here in Massachusetts when it comes to emergencies,” Wells told the committee. “We haven’t had a 9/11. We haven’t had any floods. …But if we did, these are the people we rely on to work together.”