By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff
Bonner County Commissioners unanimously approved adoption of a Regional Mass Fatality Management Plan Tuesday, joining four other North Idaho counties in doing so.
The plan, written by the Panhandle Health District, provides a framework for “an organized and effective response to mass fatality incidents ensuring that the dead and their loved ones are treated with dignity and respect.”
“It is my opinion, based on my research and our local funeral homes’ responses to my office, if Bonner County were to have more than 10 people die at a single event, we would be subject to a mass fatality situation,” said Bonner County Coroner Robert Beers. “As a county, we are unprepared for such an event.”
The 420-page plan outlines a mass fatality response for all of North Idaho. Bonner County was the last to sign on — Benewah, Shoshone, Kootenai and Boundary counties have already adopted the RMFMP.
In addition to signing onto the plan, Beers requested commissioners sign three memorandums of understanding with a handful of parties who would assist the county in the case of a mass fatality event. Coffelt Funeral Home has agreed to act as a temporary morgue and autopsy facility. Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a forensic pathologist out of Tacoma, Wash., will assist with autopsy and pathology services in the event of a mass casualty incident. Litehouse Foods will provide or sell refrigeration trucks to Bonner County in the event that local funeral homes are filled to capacity. Commissioners approved all three MOUs.
Beers said this is the first time Bonner County has adopted a mass fatality plan.
While we have you ...
... if you appreciate that access to the news, opinion, humor, entertainment and cultural reporting in the Sandpoint Reader is freely available in our print newspaper as well as here on our website, we have a favor to ask. The Reader is locally owned and free of the large corporate, big-money influence that affects so much of the media today. We're supported entirely by our valued advertisers and readers. We're committed to continued free access to our paper and our website here with NO PAYWALL - period. But of course, it does cost money to produce the Reader. If you're a reader who appreciates the value of an independent, local news source, we hope you'll consider a voluntary contribution. You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.
You can contribute at either Paypal or Patreon.
Contribute at Patreon Contribute at Paypal
Coming up this week! Don’t miss out on Live performances of music & theater, fundraising, and more! See the full list of events in the 
