Madison County Coroner establishes Illinois’ first mobile command post
By Randy Pierce • Madison County Coroner Nick Novacich has established what he says is the only mobile command post for departments like his in all of Illinois with the recent addition of two units, one being a black Ford F-150 pickup truck that will be used to pull what he referred to as a body trailer.
When sharing photos of the truck and other unit with the Madison County Board Public Safety Committee on June 8, Novacich explained that this vehicle, for which delivery had been received not long before that date, was acquired by using money from his office’s cremation fee fund, adding, “so that was zero dollars to our taxpayers.”
The F-150 will be readily available, avoiding having to borrow a vehicle from elsewhere, Novacich said, to pull a trailer to be used in the event of any type of “mass casualty incident.”
He further stated a “C-Class RV” vehicle received from the St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) will function as the focal point of the mobile command post, which would be used during a catastrophic disaster to conduct interviews, communicate with other agencies and first responder groups or “anything we need to do out of that.
“We’re getting to the point where we are ready for just about anything Mother Nature or the world can throw at us,” Novacich added, “and I’m very proud of that.”
He went on to comment that he is additionally proud to say Madison, out of all 102 counties in the state, has “the only coroner’s office with a command post of our own.”
“We’re kind of blazing a new path for everyone else. STARRS is a pretty cool program; we can get a lot of equipment from them,” Novacich noted.
STARRS is a collaborative consortium of public and private organizations dedicated to addressing critical security and emergency management needs in the St. Louis region. East-West Gateway Council of Governments, as the fiscal agent for STARRS, ensures accountability and alignment with the region’s chief local elected officials.
This partnership facilitates a coordinated approach among professionals across diverse disciplines to enhance the region’s ability to prevent, respond to and recover from natural disasters and terrorist threats.
This also consists of a unified approach to homeland security. With fragmented political jurisdictions and a broad range of potential threats—both natural and intentional, EWGCG says an effective regional response requires close collaboration across multiple disciplines, including healthcare, public safety, public health, emergency management, communications and private sector stakeholders.
