Fair has new emergency operations plan

The county fairgrounds emergency operations plan is now in place.

Those whose created it now hope it never gets used.

For many years the Holmes County Fair board has had its own emergency plan in place that would provide the necessary steps of action in case of emergencies.

However, a more comprehensive plan has been put in place utilizing the input of several different county emergency groups, the fair board and Holmes County Emergency Agency Director Jason Troyer.

Troyer said while the extensive emergency plan was massive, the cooperation and input from each of the entities made the process smooth, and now the fair has a much more definitive plan in place.

“We got together and started looking for a unified emergency operations plan for the fair,” Troyer said. “Any time you have a large group of people gathered together, it is good to have an emergency plan in place. The Holmes County Fair had its own, but it didn’t involve all the entities we employed. This is the first emergency operations plan Holmes County Fair has had that encompasses countywide personnel.”

With all the work that went into creating the plan behind them, Troyer said it was well worth the effort. “We have the plan in place. Hopefully, we won’t ever have to use it, but it is nice to know we have a collaborative plan should we need one.”

The plan itself contains emergency contingencies of all types: tornadoes, high winds, thunderstorms and lightning, fires, civil disturbances, violent intruders and active shooters, missing or abducted children and endangered adults, utility malfunctions, evacuation plans, grandstand safety, and first aid.

More importantly, it pinpoints which entity will respond to any of the above issues and when and how they are to respond.

“We talked at length about where we need to send people under any of the emergency circumstances,” Troyer said. “We dug into every possible emergency and figured out how to best approach each emergency in the quickest, most functional manner possible.”

Troyer said some plans such as severe weather might include herding all fair-goers into the expo center. Other scenarios might include urging fair-goers to leave the premises, such as in the case of an active shooter.

“Some of these situations we’d rather not think about, but that is the world we live in today, so we felt the need to be proactive in every possible scenario,” Troyer said.

The approval and implementation group that put the plan together included Holmes County commissioner Joe Miller, Holmes County Agricultural Society President Kerry Taylor, Troyer, Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly, Millersburg Police Department Chief Matthew Shaner and Holmes Fire District #1 Chief Kyle Yoder.

The group used an emergency plan developed by Knox County and tailored it to the Holmes County Fair, and Troyer said having the plan typed out for everyone to follow is something that should have been done some time ago.

“It’s great to get all of these countywide organizations involved because it gets everyone on the same page,” Troyer said. “When we have a tornado and the alarm goes off, we know what will take place. We know the emergency page is going to go through because all the junior fair board members are signed up on a messaging system. We will have a number of people in place that would direct everyone to the expo center because that is the safest place on the grounds. The last thing we need is to have a situation on the fairgrounds and everyone is doing their own thing and not communicating with one another.”

Troyer said working with all the different organizations in the county that are vital to the emergency operations plan went smoothly because none of them had any agenda other than to create a plan that would benefit the fair and the people attending.

He said he has seen situations where counties have had territorial battles in deciding who should do what in responding to an emergency, but that case never arose as the group worked together to tackle the issue.

While the plan is comprehensive and well thought out, Troyer said nothing is ever perfect. Thus, when the fair ends this August, the group will go back to the drawing board to retool the plan and make it even better.

“There’s nothing wrong with making revisions and learning as we go,” Troyer said. “We hope we don’t have to add anything to it, but if it is something that benefits the safety of the people at the fair, every effort we make is a positive effort. Most importantly, we want to think of these situations and draw up a plan before they occur and not wait to be reactive.”

Troyer said everyone working together for a cause exemplifies Holmes County, and he said the Holmes County Fair board members were wonderful to work with.