The Manchester Township Office of Emergency Management is responsible for two of the six designated Nuclear Reception Centers in Ocean County, Manchester High School and Manchester Middle School. On July 20th, FEMA personnel were on hand to grade our performance during a Reception Center drill which we’re proud to say was passed with flying colors.

A Reception Center provides a predetermined location where the affected population will be directed in the event of an evacuation triggered by an incident at a nuclear power plant. Reception center personnel are responsible for the following: Monitoring evacuees, vehicles and their possession for radiological contamination; decontaminating evacuees, vehicles and possessions as necessary; registering evacuees; assigning evacuees to shelter facilities and giving them directions for reaching the facility; attending to immediate physical needs of the evacuees; and monitoring household pets, decontaminating them if necessary and providing temporary shelter.

Prior to the July 20th drill, local emergency personnel spent two days of hard work in preparation for the event. We’d like to give a big thank you to the Manchester Township, NJ School District for allowing the use of MTHS for this important drill.

Agencies participating in this drill were Manchester First Aid & Rescue Squad, Manchester Fire Company, Ridgeway Fire Company, Manchester Township Community Emergency Response Team members (CERT), Manchester Police, Ocean County Health Dept., Ocean County Office of Emergency Management, NJ State Police Office of Emergency Management and members of the NJ State Police Radiological Emergency Response Planning Unit, as well as four volunteers from the community who played the role of evacuees during the drill.

Our thanks to everyone who participated in this drill and made it a great success!