Amid hurricane season, area emergency management officials this week advised residents to prepare, plan and not to forget pets.

“If they prepare for hurricanes, they’re preparing for everything else,” Anne-Marie Brett, deputy director at the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency, said on Monday.

The agency, which regularly meets with community emergency managers, has a satellite telephone to communicate with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and is in constant touch with the National Weather Service in Gray and the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

While the hurricane season stretches to Dec. 31, Brett said that August to October are the months when a hurricane would be most likely to hit here.

Hurricanes Carol and Edna struck back-to-back on Aug. 31 and Sept. 11 in 1954, according to the Gorham Historical Society web site, and Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre this week recalled Hurricane Bob in August 1991 as a devastating storm locally.

To ready for the hurricane season, Lefebvre on Monday advised residents to have battery-operated radios and flashlights along with battery smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Those with generators should have fuel, and Lefebvre said generators should be well away from homes.

A Homeland Security pamphlet advises a basic emergency supply list for homes should include one gallon of water per person per day for three days for drinking and sanitation; a three-day supply of non-perishable food; first aid kit; can opener; a whistle to signal for help; tools; and local maps.

Brett said the agency works with municipalities to plan for emergencies like hurricanes. The agency employs computers for tracking storms and disseminating information.

Brett said Cumberland County communities also are linked by radio to the county emergency management agency housed in a bunker below the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center in Windham.

In an emergency, the county government can operate from the bunker built in the 1960s. “It was Civil Defense back then,” Brett, who lives in Scarborough, said.

Besides natural disasters, emergency management also deals with hazardous materials incidents, terrorism, and cyber security. It has a staff of eight.

The agency has an “old-fashioned” radio system available as a back up and in an emergency situation maintains a status board with each of the county’s towns listed.

“We’re the coordinator,” Brett said. “We don’t respond on site.”

The communities provide emergency responders, but the county agency can request state or federal help if needed.

Lefebvre said residents would receive emergency information about shelters and evacuations by reverse 911 and with radio and TV announcements.

Brett said residents without landline telephone service should call their dispatch center in advance of emergencies so they could get the emergency information on their cell phones.

Lefebvre said a regional shelter is located in Scarborough High School, one of a dozen possible regional sites in Cumberland County.

In areas being evacuated, Lefebvre said emergency personnel would try to go door-to-door. Brett said evacuation decisions are not made in haste. In the event of power outages, many people, even if not evacuated, seek shelters to eat, shower or to stay warm. The county has several possible sites for regional shelters like Scarborough High School. Locations of regional shelters would be publicized.

Revealing locations of regional shelters in advance could give people a false sense of security, Brett said. “It’s totally situation driven,” Brett said.

Scarborough sheltered 1,200 coastal evacuees at the high school in Hurricane Bob, the American Journal reported.

To be ready, Brett said residents should pack go-bags with needed personal items. For those going to shelters, Lefebvre said items should include medicines, personal supplies, and emergency contact information such as names of doctors in case of a medical emergency.

Brett advised pet owners to even have go bags for their animals. Pets allowed would include dogs, cats and birds. Brett said Cumberland County has the ability to set up a pet shelter staffed with qualified volunteers.

Pet shelters would be in the same shelter as one for humans. Owners would still be required to care for and feed pets.

Local personnel in the county’s cities and town deal with emergencies while Brett said the emergency management agency works behind the scenes. “With a hurricane, we have the luxury of preparing several days in advance,” Brett said.

Warned of a hurricane, Lefebvre said residents in outlying areas not served by public water should fill bathtubs and pails. During the ice storm in 1998, Lefebvre pointed out some Gorham homes were left without electrical power for 13 days without ability to pump water.

In other precautions, Lefebvre warned about touching a downed wire and said there have been some people moving a line with no way of knowing whether it was alive or dead.

“If there’s line down, never touch it,” Lefebvre said, “leave it alone and stay away from it.”

Anne-Marie Brett, deputy director of the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency, on Monday explains its role in preparedness for emergencies like hurricanes.