NEMO South Activated Following B.A.L. Fire

On the Phone: Keith Emmanuel

Fortunately for the residents, the danger posed by the fire and smoke at B.A.L. was not significant enough to require evacuation. That, however, did not stop the National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, from getting into motion in that area. According to NEMO’s Southern Regional Coordinator, Keith Emmanuel, committees in three villages were activated to assist residents with proper information of what was happening and guidance how to take necessary steps if the situation changed. 

Keith Emmanuel, Southern Regional Coordinator, NEMO

“We identified that based on the smoke coming from that side it was moving westward towards three communities in the area so we thought that for the safety and the well being of the people that we activate and mobilize our village emergency committees in those areas to do a house by house visit and give the residents the information regarding what they should do to safeguard as it relates the smell of the ammonia that was accompanying the smoke.   We did not need to evacuate anyone because basically what was in our favor was that the smoke was at a high altitude and was not at a low altitude where it as intensely affected the communities. It was just the smell of the ammonia that was dissipated from the area where the fire was. The majority of smoke I would believe more than ninety percent of it was at a high altitude and was going over head of these communities. NEMO South has a multi-hazard plan that addresses these kinds of hazard. We have a multi-hazard plan that takes into account all the various hazard that can possibly impact the community within our area.”