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Re: Bud Brinkerhoff statements.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:43 AM
From:
To:
"Patience O'Dowd" <patience_odowd@yahoo.com>
Patience,
     I am currently the Fire Chief for the Placitas Volunteer Fire Brigade.  I have held this position for over 3 years and have been an officer for the Brigade for several years prior to that.
     Our Fire Department provides fire and rescue operations for the greater Placitas area.  We also provide primary response to the Sandia Pueblo and mutual aid to Bernalillo, Algodones and surrounding areas.
     During my tenure with the Brigade, I have never experienced a single incidence where we were unable to respond to an emergency because we did not have an alternate route into the community.  Highway 165 services the area adequately and has not once failed to provide access to all subdivisions and building areas around our district.  We have had occasions where individual driveways are quite narrow and restrict access to emergency equipment such as a fire engine or rescue vehicle.
     In the evaluation of our logistics in the event of a major catestrophic event such as a hazardous material leak on Interstate 25 or a major pipeline rupture on one of the many pipelines that traverse our district, we have analyzed evacuation schemes.  In the event we had a hazardous vapor cloud originating on I25 near the Exit 242 location, in all probability, such a cloud would disperse to the point that the most effective public safety action would be to advise the populous to stay in their homes with windows and doors shut and NOT attempt to evacuate the area.  It is quite a stretch of imagination to envision a need to evacuate the Placitas region to the East or Northeast.
     Even a pipeline rupture in the heart of our district would most likely result in our department developing a safety corridor surrounding the rupture until such time as the pipeline company stopped the flow of material.  The size of the safety corridor would be dependent upon the gases involved.
     In the event that we found the need to evacuate the Placitas Village and region, the use of Hwy. 165 would accommodate such evacuation.  The main 'bottleneck' to such an evacuation would be the area where 165 joins with I25 and Hwy. 550.  It would be necessary to engage law enforcement at that location to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic out of the Placitas region.
     As the Placitas region grows it is conceivable that the traffic flow requirements of Hwy. 165 may necessitate the widening of that road to a 4 lane, similar to that on Hwy. 550.
     The Fire Department has NOT identified the need for another road system either to the north or east of Placitas Village to be necessary for us to provide adequate fire and rescue service to the Placitas region.
Chief Bud Brinkerhoff
Placitas Volunteer Fire Brigade
 
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Patience O'Dowd <patience_odowd@yahoo.com>

Hello Bud,

 

How are you?

 These are the statements as I presented them at the public meeting  in April per our telecons and your statements to me on the phone and per what I sent you. 

 

I would appreciate a return email so that I have something from you in writing to this effect so that I have documentation that it is not just me saying you said this.

 

I appreciated your expertise on this and all you do for the communities safety.

 

Thanks Much,

Patience O'Dowd

 

NE Highway Corridor

 

Emergency Exit Road Needed?
Existing Ingress/Egress
Hwy 165 to I25,
Hwy 165 to East Side of Mountain
Manzano to Frontage Rd.
 
Placitas Fire Chief Bud Brinkerhoff statement 4/08
 
1. From the perspective of an evacuation for a major catastrophic event scenario, we have not identified the need for another ingress or egress from the Placitas community.
2. There are currently 6500 structures in Placitas, twice what it was 10 yrs ago.
3. In the future Hwy 165 as it exists today may not fulfill the evacuation needs. At that time, Hwy 165 may need widening to 4 lanes.