Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Fair Lawn is seeking to outfit seven buildings around town with emergency generators as a precautionary measure in preparation for future town-wide power outages.
Borough officials, cognizant of the strain that storm-related power outages have wrought for residents and town operations in recent years, are devising a backup power plan. Through a combination of capital funds and Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigation grants, Fair Lawn is hoping to outfit its fire companies, Rescue Squad building, Ambulance Corps building and Department of Public Works garage with emergency generators. With generator power, those essential emergency service organizations would remain operational throughout extended outages and their buildings could be used as warming stations, phone charging centers or general information hubs for residents who have lost power, Mayor John Cosgrove said. Manager Tom Metzler said…
Friday, February 8, 2013
Residents are encouraged to stay off the roads Friday night into Saturday.
As the snow continues to fall throughout the region, officials in both Fair Lawn and Saddle Brook are asking residents to hunker down in their homes and stay off the potentially hazardous roads Friday night and Saturday. A Winter Storm Warning and Blizzard Warning remain in effect until 1 p.m. Saturday, with the most powerful winds and heaviest snow predicted for Friday night into early Saturday morning. Forecasts call for as much as 14 inches of snow in total. Fair Lawn, via phone alerts, email blasts and notices on its website, has urged residents, if possible, to move their vehicles from the street during the storm until the roads are plowed. The borough's snow removal and street salting plan prioritizes the order in which streets are …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Fair Lawn will review its contingency plans for fuel backup after the fragility of its current setup was exposed during Superstorm Sandy.
Superstorm Sandy played out just as borough manager Tom Metzler told his staff it would. He anticipated the devastation to the Jersey Shore, the flooding of the New York City subway system and the prolonged power outages across the region. “Prepare to be without power for two weeks,” he told his staff a couple days before the storm came to shore. Metzler said he knew exactly what to expect because he’d been studying Sandy, or a storm just like her, for over two decades. “In 1990 when I entered emergency management, the very first conference I attended they said this was the worst East Coast scenario,” Metzler said. “A Category 1 hurricane coming to shore between Cape May and Atlantic City with a 20 mile-an-hour forward motion.” He laid it …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The installation of flood gauges on the Passaic and Saddle rivers will provide residents with a better idea whether they can expect flooding at their homes following downpours.
- GOVERNMENT
- Zak Koeske
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
By the end of the year, the borough's ability to predict the severity and impact of future floods should be markedly improved. After years of being passed over for funding, Fair Lawn learned recently that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had approved its most recent request for grant money to install flood gauges on both the Saddle and Passaic rivers. The borough expects the gauges to be in place at both rivers by the end of the year. "We’re excited about it," said borough manager Tom Metzler, who credited emergency management coordinator Ira Marks for fighting to obtain the funding. "It’s not going to prevent the flooding, but it is certainly going to give residents advanced notice and much more detail in terms of timelines with …
Thursday, September 20, 2012
With the impending retirement of current Emergency Management Coordinator Ira Marks, the borough has opened up its search for a new OEM coordinator.
Fair Lawn is seeking a replacement for emergency management coordinator Ira Marks, who is retiring at the end of the year. The part-time position, which pays $25,000 per year, involves maintaining the borough's emergency operations center, developing and organizing the borough's emergency operations plan and conducting regular exercises to test the borough's emergency operations plan, among many other things. Borough manager Tom Metzler, who served as the borough's emergency management coordinator prior to Marks, said that other than a few basic responsibilities, the new coordinator will be free to take emergency managment in the direction he or she sees fit. Applicants for the three-year appointment must be Fair Lawn residents and are …
Friday, September 23, 2011
Residents interested in having their homes mitigated, either through acquisition or other long-term flood solutions, can sign up for grant consideration in Borough Hall this weekend
Residents who have suffered repeated flooding in recent years and are interested in having the Federal Emergency Management Agency mitigate their property can visit Fair Lawn Emergency Management in Borough Hall Room 201 this weekend to sign an interest form. Signing a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program interest form is not binding and does not commit a resident to carry out the mitigation of their property. It simply places residents on a list that FEMA will then consider when approving HMGP grants. If a resident is approved for an HMGP grant, the agency will either purchase the resident’s home, elevate the structure using stilts or perform some other flood mitigation procedure, like retrofitting structures or introducing vegetative …
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Passaic River flash flooded last night and will continue rising into Friday, with water again expected to reach into resident's homes
As persistent rain continues to pelt Fair Lawn, water levels are rising and flooding is again expected to affect residents living on the Passaic River Basin. Water levels at Little Falls had reached 7.62 feet by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and are expected to continue rising over the next couple days, cresting at 10.5 feet on Friday afternoon. Emergency management chief Ira Marks said residents living in the flood plain were notified by phone Tuesday night that water would again reach their homes. He said he's been receiving dozens of calls from concerned residents. Already, a rare Passaic River flash flood closed Wagaraw Road Tuesday night. Water levels receded over night, and the road re-opened this morning. A flood warning for all of Bergen …
Friday, September 2, 2011
Officials say residents should clean as soon as possible after flooding in their homes to avoid the growth of mold
- GOVERNMENT
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Friday, September 2, 2011
Disaster recovery and health officials said residents in flood-damaged homes should begin cleanup as soon as it is safe to re-enter their houses because mold can create serious health problems. “Taking the time to clean thoroughly before mold grows is the most important preventive step a homeowner can take,” said FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer, Bill Vogel. “Just because the basement has dried out doesn’t mean there can’t be trouble lurking down the road.” Care must be taken to clean and completely dry any areas of the home that have gotten wet from floodwaters. Wear gloves and a mask and ventilate the area. Clean wet places immediately using these suggestions: Per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), everyone should avoid …
Chris
12:20 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Hurricane Sandy - Lesson learned. Kudos to the town for wanting to put emergency back-up generators in key buildings. Smart move on the towns part! more ›