City gets $1 million to prepare for disasters

In the next year, Carson City emergency responders will have an anthrax detector, a portable hospital facility, mobile command post, gas masks and other equipment for disastrous events such as terrorist attacks.

Carson City received $1 million in Domestic Preparedness federal grant funding after the state Department of Emergency Management reclassified the city as a quasi-state agency.

As responders to the state Capitol and state buildings, city fire, police and hospital workers needed the equipment, officials said Thursday.

"With our resources and the needs of state government here, there are additional burdens," said Mayor Ray Masayko. "This preparedness helps the community. We are the first line of defense."

The long list of equipment includes a $220,000 mobile command vehicle allowing responders to communicate with each other, said Fire Chief Lou Buckley, emergency manager for Carson City.

The city's Local Emergency Planning Committee received two grants earlier this year totaling nearly $415,000 to pay for computerized air monitoring devices to detect chemicals. The systems have been installed in the Capitol, the Legislative Building and the Nevada Supreme Court, Buckley said.

With the additional equipment, the city will have 40 percent to 50 percent of what they need for large-scale disaster events.

"It will be a substantial step forward," Buckley said.

The funding will allow the departments to purchase a $200,000 mobile air, light and power unit that can refill fire air tanks on the spot, provide emergency power and light an area with floodlights.

Other items include night-vision goggles, crime and forensic software, video equipment, a portable, heated plastic room for the hospital, a search camera, radio equipment and personal safety supplies.

Some equipment can and will be used on a regular basis for police or fire response, Buckley said.

Contact Jill Lufrano at jlufrano@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.