Police Chief Richard Stanley, Emergency Management Director for the Town of Wareham, chaired a meeting on February 15 at the Wareham Multi-Service Center to establish a Local Emergency Planning Committee.

The Local Emergency Planning Committee aims to give the public accurate and timely information and instructions concerning impending and occurring disasters and emergencies. It also aims to put programs in place that train and educate the public on disaster preparedness long before any emergency or disaster occurs. A meeting will be held in the upcoming months to describe the program to the general public.

Among those present at the meeting was Douglas Forbes Jr., Region II Local Coordinator for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency who facilitated the meeting. Other attendees present were representatives of public safety for the Town of Wareham that included the Wareham Fire Department, Onset Fire Department, Harbormaster, Board of Health, Emergency Medical Services, Municipal Maintenance, Plymouth County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coalition, and Local Media for Wareham Community Television.

Also present were two student interns from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy who are majoring in Emergency Management. Jeremy Letson and Kyle Steek work for Stanley collecting data for the town’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, a prerequisite for the Local Emergency Planning Committee to be certified.

The members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee voted unanimously to appoint Chief Richard M. Stanley as Chairman, Wareham Firefighter Patrick Haskell as Vice Chairman, and Health Agent Robert Ethier as Secretary Treasurer.

“My goal is to have a model Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan in place that other communities in Massachusetts will look to as being the best of the best. I am confident that with the team I have in place, that goal will soon be a reality," said Stanley at the conclusion of the meeting.