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Onalaska and Holmen schools have seen more than their share of bomb scares this year, and those come at a price.
“It’s certainly very, very spendy,” said Holmen Police Chief Mike McHugh.
McHugh figures it costs about $50 per officer per hour all told, and that’s if they’re not on overtime. With four to six officers on the scene for a couple hours, it costs the taxpayers $400 to $600 for the police to respond to a bomb scare.
Luckily, none of the bomb scares has required a visit from the bomb squad, which has to come all the way from Madison. McHugh said it costs $150 per hour for each member of the bomb squad responding, with a minimum of three, and it costs almost 50 cents per mile on top of that.
“We could easily be looking at eight hours plus mileage,” McHugh said. “Pretty much it’s going to wreck a thousand dollar bill by the time you’re all through.”
There’s also the cost involved in mobilizing the fire department. Troy Gudie, assistant chief at the Onalaska Fire Department, said the OFD is averaging about $500 per call in equipment and personnel costs, with nine or 10 firefighters and an engine truck, ladder truck and command vehicle responding.
There’s also the intangible cost to the community of disrupting traffic flow and the cost to the schools and students of disrupting classes.
“What price do you put on kids missing out on two hours of education?” McHugh said.
The schools and emergency responders are in a tough situation with these bomb scares, said McHugh, because even though they usually don’t seem like credible threats, they have to be treated as real.
“We take all of them very seriously,” McHugh said. “Sooner or later there could be somebody who does something.”
Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or (608) 786-6812.
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