Springfield approves hazard mitigation plan

At the end of a long process that involved public meetings and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Springfield select board approved a hazard mitigation plan at their meeting Monday night.

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Springfield approves hazard mitigation plan SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – At the end of a long process that involved public meetings and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Springfield select board approved a hazard mitigation plan at their meeting Monday night. Cindy Ingersoll of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission told the board she had incorporated their comments into the final draft, which is approved by FEMA and only needed the select board’s blessing to go into effect. The plan is good for five years. “This is an update to a previous plan,” said Ingersoll. “It’s not an emergency response plan; with hazard mitigation the intent is to implement strategies and projects to minimize future hazards.” The plan names the greatest natural hazards for Springfield: extreme winter weather and flooding. It notes, “It is less expensive to prevent disasters than to repeatedly repair damage after a disaster has struck.” Although blizzards and cold weather might be considered disasters elsewhere, the plan notes that coping with winter weather in Vermont is a way of life, and the residents are prepared. However, as Town Manager Tom Yennerell noted, Springfield is aptly named: there are springs and water sources all through the town. “It’s not always necessarily structures on the banks of rivers that are at risk of flooding,” said Ingersoll. “It could be slopes where water is flowing over impervious surfaces; thus you can have flood damage at some distance to the river itself.” “Eventually all the water that leaves town enters the river,” she said. The North Springfield Dam effectively protects the downtown from some flooding. The 2016 Springfield Road Erosion Report recommended stabilizing eroded stream banks that are threatening road infrastructure. A high priority stabilization project site, located along Carly Road, has an eroded area which is 20 feet high by 10 feet wide. Moderate erosion risk sites are located along a 355 feet long, 8 feet high, stream side section of Spoonersille Rd. Included in the plan are such actions as increasing culvert size, stabilizing road infrastructure and maintaining stable river banks. Ingersoll noted that stormwater management has evolved, so that reducing impermeable surfaces (like large expanses of parking lot) is now understood as a means to prevent catastrophic flooding. Structure fires were named as having the highest possible risk to the town due to their high probability of occurrence, short warning time and potential for catastrophic loss. However, the best way to prevent structure fires is by having working smoke detectors: “Structure fires are common throughout Vermont during the winter months as residents heat their homes with wood or wood pellet burning stoves. With little or no warning, these fires can affect a single residential structure or spread to other homes, businesses or apartment complexes and can result in loss of property and life. Fires can be caused by improperly disposing of ashes with live coals from wood stoves or by faulty electrical wiring and misuse of space heaters. The Vermont Fire Marshal Reports identify the leading causes of structure fires to be the result of heating and cooking incidents. The most significant common factor in fire fatalities in Vermont continues to be the absence of a functioning smoke detector in the sleeping area of residential structures.”