IBTS Wins Praise for Storm Efforts

by Woody Jenkins, editor

CENTRAL — IBTS, the private non-profit organization that provides city services in Central, won high praise for their work during Hurricane Isaac at last Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, top officials of IBTS explained their efforts before and during the hurricane.

David Ratcliff, IBTS program director for the City of Central, said planning began in June and culminated with a four-hour emergency planning meeting involving Mayor Mac Watts the Monday before Isaac hit Louisiana.

“One of the most important decisions was to position emergency equipment at strategic points around the City of Central.  Trees down on Sullivan, Lovett, or Gurney can  severely limit our access to an area in need,” Ratcliff said. “So we wanted to be sure equipment was available in all parts of the city, and that we were able to respond very quickly.”

When the storm hit, everyone worked together, including the Mayor’s office, Central Fire Department, Sheriff’s Office,  and IBTS, he said.

Sure enough, large trees went down on Sullivan, Lovett, and Gurney.  Phone poles were sheared off, and electrical wires were tangled.

“We worked together to seal off the affected area.  We had stationed trucks throughout the city that had all of the signs and emergency markers necessary to seal off an area.

In most cases, crews were sent out to help as soon as calls were received.  Ratcliff said IBTS considered the weather conditions, the location, and the safety of employees.  “Employee safety is always our No. 1 concern,” he said.

When IBTS lost telephone contact, calls were routed to the Central Fire Station, where they were answered by IBTS personnel.

Altogether, IBTS responded to calls at more than 40 locations.

The company made a strong effort to clean ditches in the city before Isaac hit, in order to facilitate drainage.  After the hurricane had passed, they returned and cleaned the ditches again.  “The easiest way to cause flooding is to have ditches filled with debris,” Ratcliff said.

Ratcliff was among the IBTS workers who were deployed during and immediately after the storm.

On Thursday, we found him driving a Caterpillar tractor, moving giant trees off Sullivan Road.

Ratcliff was proud that trees were removed from Central’s roads almost immediately after they fell.

Lessons Learned. Ratcliff said he plans to have more staging areas and more personnel available for the next hurricane.

The Fire Chief and the Mayor have asked for IBTS to conduct a self evaluation of their performance, and Ratcliff expects that to be ready soon.

Individuals involved in the interview were Ashok Goswami, IBTS/CEO, Greg Seldon, IBTS/Director of Local Government Solution, and David Ratcliff, IBTS/Program Director, City of Central.

EQUIPMENT PRE-STAGED ACROSS CENTRAL

Equipment pre-staged throughout Central were three four-wheel drive Case 580 backhoes with thumbs for tree and debris removal, two rubber tire trackhoes, dump trucks and trailers, pickup trucks and trailers inventoried and loaded with all emergency barricading, lighting, and tools such as chain saws and accessories to respond immediately to downed trees and to open roadways.  IBTS also had two local contractors on standby with equipment pre-staged.