Pagliughi Appointed to Head County Office of Emergency Management

CREST HAVEN – The county Office of Emergency Management has a new coordinator, Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi. He was appointed by freeholders for a three year term expiring July 8, 2015.
The board’s action took place Tue., July 10 at the freeholder meeting when a resolution was unanimously passed making the appointment official.
According to Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton, Pagliughi had already begun in the office, which is located in the basement of the County Library Building. It is there, in a windowless world that municipal managers as well as representatives of utilities, service agencies and State Police convene when threatening weather looms, as it did last August when Hurricane Irene was aiming north.
Thornton said Francis J. “Frank” McCall, longtime OEM director, will transfer into the County Engineer’s Office.
Thornton said Pagliughi recently retired from an environmental engineering firm after 31 years. Further, he cited that Pagliughi could remain as Avalon mayor since that municipality holds non-partisan elections, and therefore could hold the county post.
Thornton said the OEM job becomes a 24-hour-a-day job when weather conditions or other emergencies threaten. When that happens “Everybody sleeps on cots, sometimes for three or four days,” said Thornton.
Under Pagliughi’s guidance as the borough’s emergency management coordinator, Avalon has been in the forefront of emergency planning.
Most recently, he oversaw the dedication of a 75-pet air conditioned trailer that can be transported to the location where residents would be evacuated in Cumberland County.
At the June 7 dedication of that pet evacuation trailer Pagliughi said, “This pet evacuation trailer will save lives and encourage residents to get themselves out of harm’s way in the event of a major storm event.”
“There is a tremendous need for local communities, counties, and the state to embrace the issue of pets and their owners during significant storm events. Avalon has first-hand experience with residents who would not leave their homes just to care for their pets. Instead of avoiding the issue, Avalon embraced it as a public safety initiative to save lives,” Pagliughi said at the dedication.
Last August, on Aug. 26, the resort’s Office of Emergency Management called for the mandatory evacuation of vacationers, non-residents, and visitors. Everyone in the borough was told they “must leave our community by Friday evening. Access to Avalon will likely be cut off on Saturday due to Hurricane Irene.”
Avalon advised visitors to “immediately pack up their belongings and leave the Borough immediately. Residents will be ordered on Friday to leave the borough as well.”
Avalon residents who had no place to go in that storm had a shelter available at the Cumberland County College located off Route 55 in Millville.
Communications with its residents were also paramount during the storm. Avalon continued to update residents on its emergency radio station, 1630 AM; on ShoreTV Channel 2 for Comcast customers; on the Borough’s website, www.avalonboro.org; and on the Borough’s official Facebook page. Avalon also used its Global Connect reverse 9-1-1 system to notify the public about the evacuation.