R2 –WEEKLY BULLETIN
Volume 1, Issue 1 January 12, 2009
Training Event of the Week
Watch gets EMIMS training
Carri A. Hoffman
Senior Watch Analyst, DOD
The Region II Disaster Operations Division, Watch
Operations received 2 days of training on the Emergency
Management Incident Management System (EMIMS) - a
real-time system that provides information collection,
recording, reporting and sharing capability during steady
state and major incident/disaster operations. EMIMS was
launched in October 2007; standardized reporting through
EMIMS by all FEMA Regions is expected by March 2009.
If you have an item of interest to the team please submit to Anna
Fusco via email no later than Wednesday close of business.
Farewell from Steve
“Adios Amigos”
Steve Kempf
Regional Administrator
Please accept my sincerest appreciation for the warm
and wonderful send-off you gave me on Friday. Over
this past weekend I had time to pause and reflect on
the past three years working with you as Regional
Administrator and comparing this tenure with my former
as Regional Director. As you would expect, some
aspects defy comparison due to the changes in FEMA
over the years yet, on the other hand, there are
common threads between my two administrations and
the one most important to me is the people I have
worked with and have come to know as friends over
this time.
As I mentioned on Friday, the one thing that compelled
me to come back are the professionals that I worked
with; it is your spirit, professionalism, and compassion
that I admire the most and I wanted to be part of that
again. To my pleasant surprise, those qualities are not
only still there but are manifest in the “new” folks that
joined Region II during my absence. Looking back I
can see the dramatic changes in the organization, but I
still see the same spirit and desire to excel in your
service and in yourselves. You are truly deserving of
not only my praise but that of the people of Region II as
well as the people of this great country.
In your comments and actions you have given me great
honor and I leave with heartfelt appreciation for your
service and your friendship. I have been truly blessed
by being part of your organization; I have grown in
knowledge and spirit for which I am eternally grateful to
you. I leave with you in my heart and with the
confidence that we all are in good hands and I will
always have you as my friends, as I will always be
yours.
Until we meet again, I wish each of you health and
happiness as well as continued success and fulfillment
in your lives. Thank you again for the many honors you
have bestowed on me and for your gracious and caring
thoughts and comments.
- Steve
Forward Progress
• The Management Review Work Group submitted
proposed policy to the Office of the Regional
Administrator for consideration
• The Disaster Workforce Working Group will meet on
February4th to formulate a plan of attack to ensure our
policies and procedures are supportive of the FEMA
Agency-Wide Disaster Workforce Credentialing Plan.
• Senior Leadership workgroups will be held on
January 21st and March 5th to align region wide
procedures and expectations.
• The ORA is in the processing of naming a Region II
Planning Working Group and a Region II - Planning
Executive Council to synchronize our planning efforts.
More to follow.
FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN
DAE Efforts Underway
DRWD- Region II Corner
Pershette Wakefield
DRWD Liaison
The current focus is the development of disaster reservist
trainees across all cadres. Region II FCO’s have committed
to this initiative and will increase disaster operation
deployment of trainees for OJT and Shadowing. On January
8th, the Region II Disaster Workforce Initiative Workgroup
was established to review the credentialing plan and to
develop region specific procedure/policy.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: We have so many new people and positions. Is there
somewhere we can see all the slot and grades?
A: The DRA has directed a review of our organizational
chart and the plan is to publish all that information initially
to a common drive but eventually to the regional intranet
sight utilizing MS Sharepoint. (Take a look at Region VIII’s
site for a peek!)
Please submit your questions to Anna Fusco via email
weekly no later than Wednesday close of business so we
can research and provide answers. We’ll try to answer a
couple every week.
2009 - A Record Breaker
FEMA Family Delivers for America Again
Dug Salley
Acting Division Director, DOD
The 2008 Hurricane Season was a record-breaker both
statistically and for the number of FEMA firsts nationally
over the six month period. This hurricane season was
historically significant not only for the damage it caused, but
also for the types and number of storms that developed.
FEMA Region II, Disaster Operations provided ERT-A
response support to the Caribbean as well as support Regions
V and VII. Disaster Operations is excited to work with our
new IMAT team to continue our outstanding support within
the region as well as any response on the national level.
Faces of Region II
RA, Steve Kempf says Goodbye
Mr. Smith visits RII - CAD
Anna Fusco
Office of the Administrator
Mitigation Staff on the Move
RII Mitigation Risk Mapping Assessment and Planning
Jason Fenn
Program Specialist Map (MOPD), Mitigation Directorate
This year marks a turning point for FEMA’s Mitigation
Directorate. Building upon the accomplishments of the first
phase of the Flood Map Modernization Program, phase two
has begun entitled Risk MAP (Risk Mapping Assessment,
and Planning). The Risk MAP concept is an integrated
approach where flood hazards are identified and then woven
into watershed-based risk assessments and State and local
hazard mitigation planning efforts.
At the recent Risk Analysis Division Meeting which took
place in Philadelphia December 8-12 of 2008, Region II
Mitigation staff made a presentation on this and other
Regional Risk MAP efforts. The message of this presentation
was that risk-based mitigation planning leads to mitigation
actions that reduce overall risk. We have engaged in Data
Sharing Agreements including other Federal agencies &
local governments. The resulting hazard data, including GIS,
topographic, surge modeling, etc. is available upon request
through the Risk Analysis Branch.
FEMA REGION II – WEEKLY BULLETIN