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- phasize enough how res - idents should be prepared for potential communica - tion and infrastructure is - sues, during the total solar eclipse on April 8. "That goes back to a lot of materials that we pushed out," Bur - net County Emergency Management Coordina - tor Derek Marchio told The Highlander. "Have a backup communications plan, knowing where that volunteer fire department in case you've exhausted every single means of try - ing to call 9-1-1.
"Also, know when to call 9-1-1. Call 9-11 only if it's a life safety issue loss of life, limb or eyesight," he added, "or violence has occurred of if there is a threat of violence." Burnet County Sher - iff's Office Capt. Tom Dil - lard offered insight into how residents can protect themselves.
Crime Prevention
"First is prevention. Get your No Trespassing signs up; get your fences up,” Dillard said. “People who disregard those notices can be subject to arrest for trespassing.
“Try some diplomacy if you can. Sometime folks don’t know they’re on private property or they want to pretend they don’t know, but they won’t challenge you.”
Unfortunately, authorities are planning for slower police, fire and EMS response times due to potential congestion and influx of emergency calls.
"We can expect re sponse times to be greatly increased over what is nor- mally expected," he said.
“If you’re in the county and you expected a 15-- 20 minute response time, that is unrealistic because of the anticipated traffic issues.”
Law Enforcement Marchio further ex plained that authorities have increased the amount of personnel on hand in law enforcement and other areas of public safety.
"There are five differ ent sectors in the county where they will have ba- sically up to five deputies in each of those sectors,” Marchio said.
“If someone physically has to go somewhere because they can’t get through on any means, their best bet is their lo- cal fire department," he said. “All the volunteer fire departments will be manned.”
One area of concern involves transportation.
"Based on the experi ence that folks in the north- west had during the 2017 eclipse, we’re anticipating drastically increased travel times,” Dillard said. “Five times the normal is expected.
“Blocking the roadway intentionally is a crime. They could be easily be subject to arrest and immediate removal of the blockage.”
Emergency Calls
Also, Marble Falls area officials have a contin gency plan for monitoring traffic as well as offer ing so-called “pods” for eclipse response (Find the Marble Falls PD plan on Page 5).
Marchio added residents may need to count on alternative methods of sending out emergency calls.
"Texting to 9-1-1 is true for the entire county. It’s also true for the entire CAPCOG region – that’s Burnet, Llano and Blanco counties,” Marchio said. “Marble Falls put it out, ‘If you can’t call, you can text.'
“Also, depending on the type of internet somebody is on – at least if it’s anything other than a cellular internet network – they should be able to use wifi calling on any cell phone.”
Those with land lines may have a better chance of maintaining connections.
“If you are somebody with a land line or you know somebody with a land line, be sure and let your neighbors know in case if there is an emergency, and they can’t get through using their normal means.”
In some gated communities, including Meadowlakes, some neighbors have agreed to tie a yellow ribbon around a gate to alert nearby residents that they possess a land line for emergencies.
However, Marchio did not recommend the practice for the public at large.
“Some neighborhoods are doing that,” he said. “We decided not to just because there was that kind of public safety concern that people could use that as a way to do other things (criminal activity).
“For a gated community, they’re actually able to have some control over who’s in the neighborhood.”
Positive Interaction
Ultimately, getting through the event will require proactive response from residents.
“People aren’t coming here to make life diffi cult,” Dillard said. “That’s
just a by-product of having that much excess popu lation above and beyond what our county typically handles.
"If everyone will ex ercise a little patience, courtesy, exercise a little grace towards one another, it will go along way in preventing this from being catastrophic.”
For more information, call the non-emergency phone numbers for Bur- net County SO, 512-7566136; Marble Falls PD, 830-693-3611; Burnet PD, 512-756-6404; or Llano County SO, 325-247-5767.