NARROWSBURG — The Western Sullivan Resiliency Conference was held recently at the Narrowsburg Union, where members of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), fire departments and government leaders discussed solutions for handling future disaster events in the region.

Tusten Supervisor Carol Wingert started the event last year, after the major winter storm Riley swept through the region, hitting the western side of the county and the towns of Tusten and Highland especially hard.

“It's all about education and communication,” Wingert said of the day-long conference.

Attendees were able to learn from each other while sharing resources. The group looked at some of the issues that came about from the winter storm, such as power restoration and road clearing.

Wingert said she realized the public depends on government to inform them of what to do in times of a disaster, and also for government agencies to be in communication with response organizations and New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG).

“We talked about educating the community on how to be resilient, because we found that through these last few severe storms people are dependent on us. They look to government and NYSEG,” Wingert said.

And the conference didn't just focus on natural disasters such as storms, but any type of crisis including fires, train derailments, biological events, acts of terror, toxic spills, etc.

Representatives from county government were also in attendance, and Deputy County Manager John Liddle said they plan to hold a similar conference for all county positions before the next winter season.

“The folks from the county team definitely appreciate the hard work that went into this [conference]. It has caused us to recognize that we have a coordinating role that we need to play,” Liddle said. “We want to make sure that we're preemptive about it.”

Liddle added that the relationships people form are crucial for good communication. “You don't want your first phone call or face-to-face meeting to be when the crisis is happening; you want to have those relationships beforehand, so you know who you're talking to and you have that personal connection,” he said.

After the conference, attendees identified key takeaways and areas where there could be improvements. “The goal is to hopefully be more resilient and have a better handle on things when disasters do happen,” Wingert said. “And going forward I want to do this conference every year.”