DeWitt County
Emergency Response Handbook
Project Manager: Robert Gannon
Assistant Project Manager: Matt Ahrens
GIS Analyst: George Caracostis
1 of 14
Introduction

DeWitt County is a small, rural county in South Texas

Northwest of Victoria, TX

4 major cities
(Cuero, Westhoff, Yoakum and Yorktown)


2 of 14
Est. Population of 20,503 people (2013)
Only 7 volunteer fire departments / 910 Sq.
miles
Introduction Continued…
The Problem:

Increase in chemical fires

Concerns of fires, spills, and emissions from chemical-holding facilities

Lack of access to internet, maps, emergency contacts (Emrich et al, 2011).

Difficulty of communication between emergency response agencies

Response protocol and assignment needed for chemical hazard emergencies
(Cova, 1999)
3 of 14
Introduction Continued..
The Solution:

Compose a hand held guidebook to distributed to all emergency response
teams in DeWitt County.

The handbook will contain:

Information on facility with Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) material and
hydrocarbons (H2S).

Map for each EHS/H2S chemical-holding facility containing:
4 of 14

Calculated safe zones for roadblocks

Facility gate access points

Highlighted road route from closest fire department to facility

List of contacts, notification procedures

List of all H2S and other hazardous materials on site

Protective actions to be taken
Data Materials & Analysis
Data obtained from client includes:


DeWitt County Tier II and EMS/FD/School data provided by Texas Department of
Sate Health Services.

Street Addresses, decimal degree coordinates of chemical facilities

Chemical inventory at facilities

Facility contact information
Texas State Data Center website


Shape files for DeWitt County: city boundaries, roads, rivers, lakes
United States Census Bureau

Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) files for road
networks, geocoding, address matching – used by US Census Bureau to describe land
attributes

We used them to confirm facility locations, gate access and optimum roadblock
placement
5 of 14
Analysis Continued…
Software Used:

Cameo Software Suite: Cameo FM, Cameo Chemicals, Aloha and Marplot

Microsoft Excel – Tier II database information

Aloha for threat analysis

ArcGIS 10.2 for final maps and analysis
6 of 14
Methodology

Install Cameo Suite

View, organize, edit Tier II database

Research chemical properties and hazards

Create an ArcMap document:
-Include all base shape files
Cameo FM Database
7 of 14
-Locate facilities in ArcMap
Methodology Continued…
Cameo

Export Tier II Database:

Join Database files to facilities layer
Excel
Join Layer
Layer Join Field
Table Join Field
Excel Table File
Facilities.shp
FacilityRecordID
FacilityRecordID
ChemicalsInInv.csv
FacilityRecordID
ChemicalInvLocations.cs
v
FacilityRecordID
ChemInvMixtures.csv
OtherRecordID
Facilities.shp
ContactRecordID
ContactRecordID
ArcMap
ContactsLink.csv
Contacts.csv

Series of joins will furnish each mapped facility with necessary chemical and
contact information

Create Map for each facility with a threat zone radius, contact information,
and emergency protocol (roadblocks, route, gate access)
8 of 14
Expected Results & Findings
By the end of the project, we want to have a fully functioning handbook mapping
Each of the EHS/H2S chemical facilities including

Threat zones in and around the facility

Roadblock locations

Gate access points

Contact information for each facility

List of all hospitals, schools, public/private buildings around facility

Have least cost path for emergency responders

Chemical inventory

Protocol listed in a table next to each map

Information on Classification levels (Alerts, Site Area, General Emergency)

Classification Reporting script for Agencies calling in 911 Dispatch
9 of 14
Project Completion Timeline
Timeline
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14
2-Feb
Client Presentation/ First Client Visit
Proposal Preparation
Proposal Presentation/ Second Client Visit
Data Collection
Analysis
Progress Report Presentation/ Third Visit
Final Project Preparations
Project Presentation
10 of 14
9-Feb 16-Feb 23-Feb
2-Mar 9-Mar 16-Mar 23-Mar 30-Mar
6-Apr 13-Apr 20-Apr 27-Apr 4-May
Budget
Data Collection and Analysis
Weeks
Hours
Pay/Hr.
Total
1-6 Collection (4 hours a week * 6 weeks * 2 consultants)
48
$30.00
$1,440.00
4-10 Analysis ( 10 hours a week * 6 weeks * 2 consultants)
120
$55.00
$6,600.00
Total Cost = $8,040.00
Project Management
Weeks
Hours
Pay/Hr.
Total
4-10 GIS Analyst (15 hours a week * 6 weeks)
90
$36.00
$3,240.00
2-12 Assistant Manager (15 hours a week * 10 weeks)
150
$55.00
$8,250.00
2-12 Project Manager (10 hours a week * 10 weeks)
100
$75.00
$7,500.00
Total Cost = $18,990.00
Software
Licenses
Usage
Total
ArcGIS($1,500 annual Std. User License)
$1,500/12 * 3 months of use
$375.00
Adobe Creative Cloud ( $599.88 annual cost)
$599.99/12 * 3 months of use $149.97
Total Cost =
11 of 14
$524.97
Total Project Cost= $27,554.97
Final Deliverables
CD Containing:

Excel spreadsheets of facility and contact data

ArcMap document

PDF file of completed Chemical Release Guide

PowerPoint presentation

Shape files

Metadata
Hardcopies of completed Chemical Release Guide
12 of 14
Conclusion & Discussion

The goal of this project is to help keep the facilities, their contents, and the
community safe

We want to help the first responders do their job to the best of their abilities

These maps and deliverables that we are creating are meant to help save
lives throughout the community

In a small community there are not as many resources available which is why
we can make a difference

Please ask any questions you may have
13 of 14
References

Cova, T. J. (1999). GIS in emergency management. Geographical information
systems, 2, 845-858.

DeWitt County Profile. (2013). Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://www.txcip.org/tac/census/profile.php?FIPS=48123

Emrich, C. T., Cutter, S. L., & Weschler, P. J. (2011). GIS and emergency
management. The SAGE Handbook of GIS and Society. London, Sage, 321-43

Eagle Ford Shale - Overview, News, Companies, Geology, & More. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 18, 2015, from http://eaglefordshale.com/
14 of 14