Tabernacle’s Lowe helps prepare for unwanted events
The residents of Tabernacle who receive a Reverse 911 call usually hear the same voice on the line: “This is William Lowe, emergency management coordinator for the Township of Tabernacle. This is important public safety message.”
Residents also hear his reports during township meetings, highlighting what is going on in the township, or the importance of pens with flashlights, or copying one page of a manual at a time and passing it out to committee members, trying to convince them to go to a training. Col. William Lowe, who has been the emergency management coordinator in Tabernacle for 14 years, is tasked with a job to help facilitate resources during a major event such as a natural disaster.
Lowe has had a distinguished career. He obtained the rank of colonel in the Army. After leaving the Army, Lowe worked for the state and helped coordinate the National Guard when an emergency happened. He was also part of the emergency response to 9/11 and worked for a private nonprofit that helped put together protection plans for the state. After a while, he decided to retire.
“When I tell you I was doing nothing, I was doing nothing,” Lowe said. “I was doing a little bit with the Boy Scouts, but I was doing some reading, and I was even planning on doing some hiking along the Appalachian Trail.”
Then one day he received a call that would lead him to his current position.
“I got a call from Kim Brown, who was the mayor at that time,” he said. “She asked if I could come in and talk to her. I went in and she said that Tabernacle needed an emergency management coordinator and asked if I would be interested in doing that. That’s how it started. Since then, I’ve been there for 14 years.”
“She may have saved my life because she gave me something to do,” he added. “Because I’m retired, I have the time to do this. Most people do not have time to do the OEM stuff.”
Lowe is responsible for the development of the emergency response plans before an emergency. He also helps move the resources available in the township when an emergency arrives. He also helps train the Burlington County Community Emergency Response Team, keep track of the volunteer hours, equipment used during an event and submits for reimbursements for the use of the resources to the state or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I’m constantly doing an assessment of risks and threats and constantly come up with ways to counter those risks and threats and who is going to do that,” Lowe added. “You also have to find a way to balance how are you going to use the fire department, rescue squad, public works, etc. That results in a plan that is approximately 1,700 pages long.”
Lowe emphasizes he has no authority and no power. He suggests to the mayor and other officials the best course of action in a situation and advises on possible outcomes.
Lowe is in the process of trying to convince the Tabernacle committee to take Incident Command System training in case an emergency occurs.
“Emergency response relies on a couple of things,” he said. “Emergencies are not organized. They are inconvenient, dirty and confusing. One of the things you try to do is reduce the confusion period and get organized. You do that with the emergency operations plan and you do it with training. You also do it with the Incident Command System or ICS. ICS is how you organize at the scene.“
“What’s important is for the township committee to know where they fit into that. I am trying to teach them incident command for elected officials. They have to know where they need to go in case of a major emergency. They have a role to play, and it is not out on the fire line. It is back here in the Emergency Operations Center and talking to the public. They have to understand how that system works.”
Although his job is nothing like Tommy Lee Jones in the movie “Volcano,” Lowe is a member of the community who serves an important role during the most importune events.
“I think it is important that the residents of Tabernacle know that there are people, whether it is in rescue squad or the fire company or CERT or Public Works, these people are trained to do whatever is necessary. I think it is important for people to know that. With some of the stuff that’s been going on between the fire department, the Rescue Squad, the township committee and various residents, I would hate to see it get broken. We have something really unique in this township. If it wasn’t for volunteers in this township, we wouldn’t be able to do anything. Could you imagine what we could do if we did not have any volunteers? It is everything there is in this community … We all need to give back to our community somehow. This is what makes the community what it is. That is what makes Tabernacle what it is. This is my way of giving back to Tabernacle.”
