Oct 15, 2014 4 min read

Chartiers Township’s evacuation plan is now subject to public inspection, according to a state Office of Open Records attorney.

The decision came more than four months after the township initially denied the Observer-Reporter’s Right-to-Know request for the document. The matter was appealed, denied, reconsidered and ultimately reversed.

While it took time to gain access to the plan, the document itself is straightforward and just four pages long. The evacuation plan, part of a larger emergency operations document, includes a map showing the proximity of residents’ homes to the MarkWest natural gas processing plant, but provides no detailed plans for responding to specific incidents.

Jeff Yates, Washington County Emergency Services director, said that is standard in most municipalities. He said Chartiers Township went “above and beyond” by electing to provide a map in relation to the MarkWest plant. The map shows zones that are broken down into half-mile increments. There are about 90 homes situated within a mile of the plant, 12 of which are located within a half-mile or less.

Yates said all evacuation plans at the state, county and municipal level are based on an “all-hazards approach, which means it doesn’t matter if there is a fixed facility in a municipality” such as a railroad, highway or industrial facility.

He said the plans don’t necessarily cover every emergency or disaster that could happen, but emergency responders are trained to respond to each situation accordingly and devise a plan. Specialized training for incidents related to the Marcellus Shale industry also is provided.

MarkWest hosts an annual training session for emergency responders in Washington County, which shows them how to respond to propane-fueled fires and other natural-gas related incidents. It’s “very good training,” Yates said, and the fourth session will be held next month.

A lightning strike at the MarkWest plant in May caused a natural gas leak and led to the evacuation of 100 nearby residents. The township’s evacuation plan includes specific routes, but township Manager Jodi Noble said emergency responders use their discretion.

Noble said a “vapor cloud” hung over Western Avenue during the incident in May, so emergency responders decided to block off that road. They assess each situation, determine the “nature of the danger” and respond accordingly, Noble said.

Partly in response to that incident, Chartiers Township opted in August to purchase SwiftReach emergency notification software. Noble said it allows the township to send notifications to residents with public telephone numbers. In addition, anyone who is unlisted, prefers an email or prefers a call or text to their cellphone can sign up via the township’s website at www.chartierstwp.com.

“We had discussed it late last year, and we budgeted for it in 2014,” Noble said of the software, which cost about $3,000.

She added that the evacuation in May “reaffirmed that it was a system that made sense for the township to acquire and utilize.”

The system can notify all residents or those in a specific geographic region that may be affected. Noble said first responders still must go door to door in certain emergencies because they cannot assume that phone calls or notifications were received.