The Centre County Board of Commissioners declared a disaster emergency in Centre County at about 11 a.m. today in response to a statewide declaration of emergency.
The state alert came after two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and another collided into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A plane also crashed in Somerset County near the town of Shanksville.
"We are preparing for a 24-hour alert," said Jon Eich, director of administrative services for the Board of Commissioners.
"Effective immediately, the state has activated all County Emergency Operations Centers and placed the state on a Level One Terrorism Alert. This is the highest level and requires all emergency services to be on standby. Additional personnel should be mobilized as appropriate. All services should make preparations to maintain 24-hour operations," according to a Centre County Board of Commissioners' press release.
Eich said the Centre County coroner was called to the crash site in Somerset.
The coordinator of the Centre County Emergency Management Agency directed the emergency response activities in order to take all appropriate action needed to alleviate effects of this disaster. Emergency Management also was ordered by the Board of Commissioners to aid in the restoration of essential public services and take any other emergency response action deemed necessary to respond to this disaster emergency, the release said.
The entire agency was on alert today, said agency secretary Cathy Shafranich.
"Basically, all emergency services personnel are on standby status," Shafranich said.
Shafranich said emergency personnel and the Board of Commissioners were monitoring the situation and there was no suspicious activity in Centre County today at the time of this report.
"There were no incidents in Centre County," Eich said. "County government offices are remaining open and running."
At press time, the length of the alert status was undetermined and Shafranich said all possibilities of an end to the alert would depend on the status of national affairs.
The county did not mandate the closing of any Centre County schools, however if the schools opted to cancel classes they could have, Shafranich said. No schools in Centre County closed.
