According to the KRS, there are four levels or areas of emergency to be taken into consideration during a disaster: planning, preparedness, response, and recovery. As far as the preparedness area goes, Carpenter is on call 24/7, ready and waiting to call in Helicopter Services or even the National Guard if needed.
"I will help command the scene and help to interact between the local emergency services," Carpenter said. "I work from the emergency station for any sort of major event that might occur. Lots of areas are affected, and so we need to have multiple response agencies prepared."
To put his job into perspective, Carpenter mentioned that he had a booth set up at Ichthus just in case of an emergency.
"We provided a mobile command post for emergencies. I had already called the emergency shelters just in case, with the storm possibilities rolling through." he said.
Chemical spills are definitely a thought on Carpenter's mind. Jessamine County has only recently been accepted into the Chemical Stockpile Program located in Richmond. Jessamine is the only county to have been added to this program since 1985.
Around the time of the millennium scare, authorities sat down and started asking questions about the Army Depot in Richmond and all the chemical gases housed there.
"We were thinking how we would be effected is something occurred," Carpenter said.
From there, they were eventually granted permission to be a part of that program and part of the workings in Richmond.
Carpenter sees both good and bad days.
"We have been fortunate not to have the greatest problems with natural disasters in these local counties," he said. "The most dangerous stuff I've seen has probably been the flooding events or maybe a tornado or two," he added.
Carpenter said that the most traumatic event he had witnessed was the car crash several years back on Watts Mill Road, where three children were killed.
"The main thing I worry about is all the railroads around the schools and colleges here in Jessamine County. Those things transport all kinds of chemicals that could cause a huge disaster if the train was to crash or have an accident," he said. "But generally, it has been a fairly rewarding job so far."
The emergency management agency holds an exercise in October where the Nicholasville Fire Department has people come and show 10 participating counties how to respond during a serious or potentially harmful "disaster."
