Preparing for the eclipse

THERMOPOLIS – At a meeting Monday night, Thermopolis officials discussed the increase in visitors and recommendations for residents in preparation of the solar eclipse Aug. 21.

“I will just share with you one thing I read that was news to me. When this thing really gets rolling, when it really begins to happen the first thing that crosses the normal human being’s mind is: ‘I’m going to have to find out where and when the next one of these is because I want to be there.’ That’s why we have so many people coming here because there are a whole lot of people around the planet who have seen this before and want to come see another one. I don’t think there is any doubt that there are some folks coming,” Hot Springs County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon said.

“We are going to be probably outnumbered, so our law enforcement and our fire and our ambulance and our hospital have done all that they can to prepare for the numbers. They will be responding to all sorts of criminal calls that may occur, as usual. Activities will be as per normal,” he added.

USE LANDLINES

Due to the large amount of people expected Gordon advised community members to use their landlines instead of their cell phones during the event. He stated that that cell service may go down with so many people using their cell phones and that alternative plans need to be put into place in case of emergency. The cell towers are going to be really busy and one of the concerns is that there are going to be travelers who are going to try to livestream the eclipse back home via their phone, he said.

“The wireless companies are not increasing their service to these towers, it’s what we’ve got. If you live in this town or county, make a plan ahead of time if the cell phones go down, for you, your kids and your relatives because you are just going to be flat out of luck. Figure something out for your family. If push comes to shove and this really goes south in terms of telephone communications, figure out a way that your family is going to get word to dispatch that someone’s having a heart attack,” he added.

STOCK UP

Hot Springs County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Meri Ann Rush advised community members to make sure that they have their vehicles gas tanks and needed prescriptions filled ahead of time. She also advised community members to get enough provisions from the grocery store no later than the Thursday before the event.

She advised, “Wednesday, Thursday at the latest because what I am getting is that a lot of people are coming in Friday and Saturday and then of course some of them will be leaving Monday after the eclipse is over and then I imagine the majority will be leaving on Tuesday. So make sure you have enough supplies. That way we aren’t adding to the congestion in the stores, so we have a more relaxing weekend where we can enjoy it also.”

Gordon added that if community members wait until the weekend they may not find what they are looking for and that he strongly advises people to be stocked up by Wednesday with enough provisions to get them through the Tuesday after the event.

Rush also advised community members requiring oxygen to make sure that they have enough and are stocked up. Gordon added, “If you know someone, tell them to just make sure that they have firmed up their plan with their provider so they have enough to get through that weekend. We don’t know how quickly the suppliers are going to be able to get to them if they run out, if we have a power failure and their concentrator goes down, they want to make sure they have enough in tanks to get through.”

ANTICIPATE DELAYS

Normally scheduled deliveries could also be affected and Gordon stated that with the large amount of visitors, business owners were advised to contact their transporters. “On the deliveries, I know that the Oregon Department of Transportation just announced that they are expecting more traffic than they have ever seen, they are kind of predicting that they may come down to a halt. They may have record, highway closing traffic in that state. If we come close to that, it’s going to hold up deliveries for your businesses. Groceries whatever, fuel deliveries all sorts of supplies. You might have a chat with that company who handles your transport and see if they have concerns. The trucking industry is hugely interested in this eclipse because they know that as this thing, in the path of totality as it goes across the United States, any of their over-the-road truckers, as they approach that line [line of totality] are going to get slower and slower and slower until they get through it and come out the other side. So the trucking industry is hugely concerned and studying that problem,” Gordon said.

HOTLINE

Gordon also discussed the hotline town officials have put into place for the event. “One of the things that we decided to do for this event was to have a hotline number to try and defer some of the load off of dispatch,” he said, adding that they want to reduce the load of calls to the 911 center and calls on the radio by diverting eclipse questions to the hotline.

“The final meeting on that is Aug. 2, to discuss the particulars, when are we going to fire it up, when are we going to turn it off, what are the hours each day going to be. If people want to call with questions eclipse related, we can take a lot of that load off. We will have established and tested our capability to transfer an emergency call right down to 911 if it comes into our end,” Gordon said.

The hotline number is 307-864-8010.