Flu tops state wish list for U.S. emergency aid

Some say request should have included risk of fires, floods

Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 19, 2006 at midnight

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Last January, Colorado's top emergency planners gathered to decide what are the most likely disasters to befall the state.

Their decision would become part of the state's annual application for millions of dollars in homeland security grants from the federal government.

Looking at a list of 15 disasters on the federal form, Colorado planners figured the biggest threat would come from nature, not terrorists. Their choice of the most probable catastrophe: pandemic flu.

Only after that came the danger from extremists. The planners decided the four most likely methods of attack would be explosives, bioterrorism aimed at livestock, toxic chemicals and disruption of computer systems.

The state's chief medical officer, Dr. Ned Calonge, is spending $1.5 million in new federal money preparing for a pandemic flu. He believes it's appropriately higher on the list than terrorist attacks because pandemic flu in some degree is inevitable.

Colorado's list of most likely disasters determined what equipment and training it would seek from the federal government. But Calonge doesn't think the federal list of potential disasters was varied enough for Colorado.

"I would be concerned about things not on the list, like wildfire and flash flood," he said.

"I would put those two at the top of the list," said Dennis Mileti, retired head of the natural hazards center at the University of Colorado.

Randy Kennedy, program manager in the Division of Emergency Management, said the group making the list did discuss fire and flood. But the group didn't include them because they weren't on the federal list of 15, he said.

As a result, the state's grant application did not seek unique equipment and training to deal with them.

For example, the state could not ask for money for firefighting aircraft when its grant request was directed at a disease outbreak or a terrorist bomb.

Kennedy responded that fire and flood are part of every Colorado county's emergency response plan, even if they are not part of homeland security planning.

"I think without a doubt, those are very serious concerns that we deal with every year," Kennedy said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen said Colorado could have chosen fire and flood even though they are not on the national list.

"These are not 15 scenarios that every community must use. They are what we as a nation must prepare for, the truly catastrophic," Agen said.

The federal list of disasters is meant to stir discussion of what capabilities are needed to deal with them, he said. But it isn't meant to limit the discussion; states could consider other possibilities in seeking the grants, Agen said.

Putting pandemic flu high on Colorado's list does help the state handle any type of disaster with mass casualties, Calonge said.

If Colorado is prepared to take fast action to halt the spread of flu and to treat many thousands of seriously ill people, it will be ready to handle a health emergency caused by terrorism, Calonge said.

For example, Colorado already has enough hospital beds stashed to quickly double the current statewide capacity of 6,500 hospital patients, Calonge said. Nurses are lined up for those extra beds, but he's still working on doctors.

Planning for a pandemic is also planning for the worst-case scenario, officials added. It would affect the entire nation, so Colorado will have to handle it alone, without the national help that would arrive in case of a local terrorist attack.

"Pandemic flu will take such a huge response. . . . If we can manage that, we will build our capacity for anything we respond to," Kennedy said.

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5438

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