Kasper Fills County Post
Emergency Services Coordinator Hired
By Amy Polk

Mackinac County 9-1-1 Coordinator Bryce Tracy (left) and new Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kasper hold one of the 19 new weather radios that will be distributed to county schools and municipal buildings this fall.

Mike Kasper's new job as Mackinac County's emergency management coordinator is like a dream come true.

The 40-year-old Cedarville native said he enjoys community service, having grown up in a home where it was modeled to him by his family. His father has been a volunteer firefighter for more than 50 years, and Mr. Kasper himself has served on Clark Township Volunteer Fire Department for 22. Four other members of his family serve on the Clark Township Fire Department, including his two brothers and two nephews.

Mr. Kasper, who also served 14 years on the Clark Township Ambulance Corps, has been interested in the county coordinator's position for at least 10 years.

"In my mind, it's a continuation of what I've been doing already," he said. "I've always been community oriented, and this is a good way to serve and protect."

A lifelong resident of Clark Township, Mr. Kasper has owned and operated a heating and sheet metal business with his wife of 15 years, Nancy, and father, Chet Kasper Jr. He also worked part-time at the Chippewa County Jail for 10 years.

Mr. Kasper brings experience in the fields of firefighting, emergency medical services, and law enforcement to his new position, and he looks forward to using his experience to help coordinate the use of emergency resources in the county.

He replaces Sally Willis of Cedarville, who was hired in January but left the position June 21 for another job. Mr. Kasper was hired August 24, and has been acclimating himself to the position, most recently introducing himself to the Mackinac County Road Commission September 4.

"A lot of what I do is to resolve problems before they arise," Mr. Kasper said. "Basically, if you have a disaster, you try to plan for it, then coordinate resources for the disaster, and return the area to a 'nonemergency state.'"

His duties include managing the county's emergency response plan, coordinating county-wide disaster response training, keeping the county emergency training records, and performing emergency preparedness sessions. The sessions are mostly for large businesses, facilities, and schools, where there are hundreds of people inside a facility, he said.

Mr. Kasper's work is guided by the Mackinac County Emergency Preparedness Handbook, which has guidelines for how to apply resources and "to make sure we don't miss anything and that everything is done in an orderly fashion," he said.

If a school has an emergency situation, he explained, the school has its own guidelines for managing the situation, "but if the emergency grows beyond what the local government's resources can handle, then the county may step in."

An example is the recent Sleeper Lakes Fire that burned 18,200 acres in Luce County. Once the Department of Natural Resources realized firefighting there was a bigger situation than it could handle, the Luce County emergency coordinator went to work contacting fire departments in neighboring communities for assistance and stand-by.

Examples of incidents in Mackinac County that Mr. Kasper would help manage include a past semi-truck accident on M-117, when a truck carrying hazardous materials flipped on its side, and the winter I-75 closure earlier this year. The winter snowstorm caused traffic accidents, back-ups, and bottle-neck situations that prevented emergency services and plow trucks from reaching people who needed help. A resolution made was to close highways M-123 and westbound M-134 in addition to I-75 until traffic was clear enough to remove snow and allow emergency vehicles to pass through.

Mr. Kasper's office is on the third floor of the Mackinac County Courthouse, and he can be reached by calling 643-6731.

This fall, Mr. Kasper and 9-1-1 Coordinator Bryce Tracy will distribute 19 new hazard alert weather radios to all schools and municipal buildings in Mackinac County. The radios were purchased with a grant obtained by former emergency management coordinator Mikki Della- Moretta. They give instant severe weather updates and warnings, and in this county will be most useful for winter weather advisories and warnings.

"I think this is going to be a good program," Mr. Kasper said. "The more aware we can make our communities and keep the public safer, the better off we will be. It's that simple."

The radio alerts will come directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Mr. Tracy added the radios will help those areas that need notification of weather conditions and warnings. It was a need identified by the Upper Peninsula Regional Homeland Security Planning Board, which is comprised of all the counties' 9-1-1 and emergency services coordinators.