By Gwyneth Gibby
| Posted: Friday, August 17, 2007 12:00 am
Gazette-Times reporter
Mary King is no stranger to disasters.
She is Benton County's new emergency-services program manager and events such as floods, outbreaks of disease and earthquakes are her business.
King comes to Benton County from Lassen Volcanic National Park, where she was coordinator of search-and-rescue and emergency operations. She has been a federal law enforcement officer for eight years, also serving at Crater Lake National Park.
King said being a park ranger means being ready for whatever comes up.
"We always planned for everything," she said, "from a presidential visit to mitigating national threats to avalanche forecasting."
The worst and the biggest operations she had to manage at Lassen were two search-and-rescue missions for children. Those operations involved hundreds of volunteers as well as personnel from official agencies. One of them turned out well and the other didn't, she said. When people wander off and get lost in a national forest, they can be very tough to find.
Preparation and planning are the essence of emergency management, King said.
She said Benton County has a good emergency operations plan that is continually evolving. In addition to official personnel such as law enforcement, firefighters and medical professionals, Benton County relies on a significant volunteer force such as the Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit, Marys Peak Search and Rescue, Amateur Radio Emergency Services, Benton County Mounted Posse and Northwest Search Dogs.
King said she appreciates the commitment of all the people who combine to come to the aid of residents when emergencies occur.
Peggy Peirson, emergency services coordinator, has been the acting emergency manager since November of 2006. Peirson has been operating the office alone since then and said there is no one happier to see King than she is.
King and Peirson agreed that the most significant natural disaster known to be a threat to Benton County is an earthquake. Plans have been implemented over the past several years to retrofit schools and other public buildings in case one hits.
But being prepared means knowing much more than that. King said questions about how people are going to communicate if phones and power are disrupted, where massive numbers of injured people would be taken for medical care, how debris will be removed and how animals, both pets and livestock, will be cared for must all be addressed.
The philosophy behind preparedness has changed since King began her career as a federal law enforcement officer.
"When I started managing incidents, we played the 'what if' game," King said. "Now it's a question of 'when.'"
Personnel from county departments now run scenarios to actually go through events that could, or will happen. For example, next week they will meet at the library to go through what would happen if public schools had to be closed due to an outbreak of communicable disease.
"The goal is to be redundant is all aspects," King said. So if one system fails for some reason, there is always a backup.
King has a bachelor's degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. She also has certification as a emergency medical technician.
King and her family have strong connections to Corvallis. King's husband, Kevin Groh, is a Corvallis native and a graduate of Corvallis High School. The couple have three children: Noah, 5, Nicholaus, 3 and Molly, 10 weeks.
After living in the mountains, where there was as much as 20 feet of snow in the winter, King said it will be an adjustment to live in the rainy Willamette Valley. But apparently, being prepared for anything runs in the family.
"My husband packed the snow shovels," King said.