COCKE COUNTY, TN (WOKI / WVLT) – Cocke County emergency management officials are rewriting the county’s emergency operations plan and are asking residents to help shape how the community prepares for future disasters.
Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Esway said emergency plans are reviewed every five years, but this update is expected to include more substantial revisions based on lessons learned from recent emergencies.
According to Esway, previous plans contained extensive background information but lacked the detailed instructions emergency personnel and government leaders need during a crisis. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency streamlined the plan, reducing its size significantly, but local officials are now working to add practical details specific to Cocke County.
The revised plan incorporates lessons from several major incidents, including Hurricane Helene, a fire at the county recycling facility and a major winter storm that struck during the Christmas holiday season several years ago.
“Lessons learned not just from Hurricane Helene, but the fire that we had at the recycling facility, the snowstorm that we had Christmas Eve a few years back,” Esway said.
The new Basic Emergency Operations Plan is organized around 17 emergency support functions, including mass care, search and rescue, public health and long-term recovery.
County officials are working to identify specific local resources and needs within each category, including food distribution sites, health care resources and recovery services.
Esway said community feedback is critical because emergency preparedness means different things to different people.
“Everybody’s got a different idea about what safety and security and preparation means to them,” Esway said. “And I want to hear from as many people as I can about what that looks like in their mind.”
The plans are designed to guide not only emergency management officials but also county leaders and first responders across multiple agencies.
“There’s a lot of things that we’re responsible to make sure that we have some type of a basic framework or a plan in place that tells our emergency responders and government officials how to react, how to act and how to execute,” Esway said.
As part of the review process, county leaders are also identifying preparedness gaps and long-term goals. One proposal under consideration is the creation of Cocke County’s first dedicated hazardous materials, or HAZMAT, response team.
Esway said the need is driven by the county’s transportation corridors and natural resources, including Interstate 40, active railroad lines, multiple rivers and portions of Douglas Lake.
“When you’ve got a piece of the railway running through the county, you’ve got a good section of Interstate 40 where a lot of trucks and goods and services are transported,” Esway said. “Not to mention, we have three rivers, waterways, that we want to protect and make sure they stay clean, as well as a little piece of Douglas Lake.”
He called the possibility of developing a dedicated HAZMAT team “a phenomenal goal” for the county’s future emergency response capabilities.
Esway said his ultimate goal is to leave behind a clear, comprehensive framework that allows county leaders and emergency responders to effectively manage any disaster scenario.
