Volume 2: Number 2 A Region VIII Regional Interagency Steering Committee July 2009 In This Issue From the Chair…..1 State and UASI Reports ………......2 Presentations H1N1 Flu Preparedness and Response…….....3 New VA Contacts…..….....3 Private Sector Briefing………….3 Geological Risks on the Wasatch Fault……………..4 FEMA Region VIII Earthquake Response……….4 MERS…………….5 A Day in the Life of a Mission Assignment……..5 Catastrophic Planning Group Reports…..……….6 Evaluation Survey Results…………….6 Save the Date for next RISC…………6 From the Chair… Congratulations to Del Brewer for receiving the Partners in Preparedness award for his work as a Tribal Liaison for Region VIII and for being selected as the newest member of the Regional Advisory Committee. Partners in Preparedness is more than just a phrase. It means neighbors helping neighbors in times of need and prior to the crisis as well. That is what was at the core of the RISC meeting in Salt Lake City this past month; neighbors helping neighbors. Neighbors being educated about the geological risks of a major earthquake. Neighbors working together to plan for the devastating effects of that earthquake. Neighbors in this arena means governments at every level – federal, state, local, and tribal and voluntary organizations as well as businesses that come to the aid of citizens in need. As the Director of the South Dakota Office of Emergency Management and the Chair of the RISC Executive Committee, I am proud that each of the states - and FEMA Region VIII, resolved to tackle this issue alongside the State of Utah.  It shows the commitment we all share to one another, the collegiality of our professional relationship, and the compassion we feel for the citizens of the great State of Utah.  We will be there in Utah’s time of need, so why not be involved in the planning effort ahead of time! At the next RISC, November 17 and 18 in Denver, we plan to have another full agenda including exercising some of the catastrophic plan we are collectively building. The Region VIII RISC continues to strive for professional excellence, initiative and quality of effort in everything we do. Please join us in creating viable and valuable forums that matter to each of us as partners in preparedness. Kristi Turman, Director SD Office of Emergency Mgmt Executive Committee Chair RISC Executive Committee Kristi Turman, Director, SD Office of Emergency Management and Executive Committee Chair Dan Alexander, Director, Denver Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the Denver UASI and Executive Committee Deputy Chair Michael Beaird, Emergency Manager, CENWD-DDE, US Army Corps of Engineers Robert DesRosier, Deputy Director, Emergency Management, Blackfeet Nation Doug Gore, Acting Regional Administrator, FEMA Region VIII Vacant, Voluntary Organization Joe Moore, Director, WY Office of Homeland Security Pamela Sillars, Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership, Inc. State and UASI Reports Keith Squires, Director Utah Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services Utah presented Doug Gore, Acting Regional Administrator, FEMA Region VIII with an award for his support to the CSEPP program in Utah. The state continues earthquake preparedness as well as other all-hazards initiatives. The Be Ready Utah campaign continues as an excellent avenue to get citizen and business preparedness messages out to citizens along the Wasatch Range. ksquires@utah.gov Greg Wilz, Director North Dakota Disaster & Emergency Services Mr. Wilz presented an overview of the 2009 North Dakota flood response and recovery efforts. Emphasis is on the effective use of a Unified Command structure, Federal response, EMAC support and the Incident Action Plan. The challenge of operating in severe weather with limited resources was also addressed. Some of the lessons learned included opening the State EOC early and improving communication. gwilz@state.nd.gov Kristi Turman, Director South Dakota Office of Emergency Management Flooding from winter storms has caused infra-structure damage in 14 counties and three tribal areas. The James River remains above flood stage, which will create agricultural issues throughout the year. The state is preparing for wildland fire suppression and using state IMATs to assist in the Sturgis motorcycle rally planning and response. South Dakota is now a WebEOC subscriber and is working to get the system online. kristi.turman@state.sd.us Dan Alexander, Director Denver Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security; Denver UASI Priorities include immersion training for first responders involving bomb response and HAZMAT. Training will be conducted in partnership with FEMA Region VIII IMT workshops, funded by the UASI. Denver will host a National Homeland Security Conference in 2010 based on recent interaction with emergency managers from Israel. daniel.alexander@denvergov.org Keith Harris Wyoming Office of Homeland Security Recent flooding in two counties required a joint state/FEMA preliminary damage assessment. In June, the state participated in a full-scale exercise involving nuclear devices. Participation of local and county responders provided an excellent training opportunity and good lessons learned. The Office of Homeland Security is preparing for the influx of people expected for Cheyenne Frontier Days later in the month. kharri@state.wy.us Hans Kallam, Director Colorado Division of Emergency Management Colorado has experienced tornado warnings in record numbers this year and continues to prepare for the issues created by the pine beetle infestation. The division has added a Hazard Mitigation Specialist to the staff. Long term recovery preparations and training are being conducted. H1N1 response, pandemic planning and communications with the public have been a concern. The division continues to build upon their relationship with the Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership (CEPP). hans.kallam@state.co.us Ken Mesch, Director Montana Disaster and Emergency Management Montana is preparing for a major earthquake exercise in September. The state has reorganized its grant management program to be more effective. Staffing continues to be an issue. A less than average fire season is predicted, however, the pine beetle kill continues to pose a threat of dry fuels. kmesch@mt.gov Cory Lyman, Director Salt Lake City Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security; SLC UASI SLC UASI continues to be active with state partners in Wasatch fault earthquake preparations and planning. Collaboration with the Denver UASI on response training in the region is a key initiative. A new Executive Director, Alicia Johnson is now onboard. Alicia.johnson@slcgov.com Presentations HINI Flu Preparedness and Response CAPT Zachary Taylor, Regional Heath Administrator, US Department of Health and Human Services and LCDR Ron Pinheiro, Regional Emergency Coordinator, US Department of Health and Human Services The novel Influenza A H1N1 virus was first detected in the United States in April and HHS immediately began planning to respond to the spread of the virus. HHS is monitoring novel Influenza A H1N1 trends in the southern hemisphere and is making preparations for the next wave – anticipated this fall. Tools being employed to combat H1N1 include a novel Influenza A H1N1 vaccine that will be available this fall, antiviral medications, and community mitigation strategies, i.e. social distancing and infection-control measures. The challenges of distribution and vaccine prioritization were covered. An update on the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) was provided as well as the current status of novel Influenza A H1N1 statistics and progress of advanced diagnostics. For more information, please contact HUZachary.Taylor@hhs.govUH or HURonald.Pinheiro@hhs.govUH. New VA Contacts Zane Shaw, DVM, Region VIII VA Regional Emergency Manager, Veterans Administration The Veterans Health Administration’s Emergency Management Strategic Health Care Group (EMSHG) mission is to serve America’s veterans by assuring mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery activities focus on continuity of veterans care in the event of emergencies and disasters. EMSHG improves the Nation’s preparedness for response to war, terrorism, national emergencies, and natural disasters by developing plans and taking emergency management, public health, safety and homeland security efforts. The two new contacts in VA Region VIII are Glenn Reedy, Area Emergency Manager, Veterans Administration, UT, glenn.reedy@va.gov and Fred Boettcher, Area Emergency Manager, Veterans Administration, CO, Frederick.boettcher@va.gov. Private Sector Briefing Brian Garrett, Vice President and Manager of Business Continuity, Zion’s Bank and Pam Sillars, Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership, Inc. According to Mr. Garrett, the private sector has the potential to provide tremendous support in the event of catastrophic disasters. Questions that need to be addressed include: What government needs What will be paid for and what will be donated. The private sector requires timely, accurate information that is not from the media. Some issues private industry faces are 1) being heavily regulated, 2) trust issues and 3) having access to work areas. Utah has private sector involvement in several initiatives including; Ready Your Business, Be Ready Utah, Private Sector Homeland Security Coordinating Council, Salt Lake Chamber Homeland Security Committee and the Governor’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness Advisory Committee. Pam Sillars, of Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership, Inc. (CEPP) emphasized the importance of the private sector working closely with governments at every level and non-profits in partnership to ensure community resiliency during disasters. The CEPP works with members of INFRAGARD and the DHS Protective Security Advisors to help bring together those responsible for managing critical infrastructure during a disaster. For more information regarding CEPP, please contact Pam Sillars at psillars@psfusion.us. Geological Risks on the Wasatch Fault Dr. Walter Arabasz, Dr. Kristine Pankow, University of Utah and Christopher DuRoss, Utah Geological Survey Utah’s heaviest population resides along the intermountain corridor and the 210 mile long Wasatch fault. The likelihood of a large, 6.5 or greater magnitude earthquake occurring in the Salt Lake City area during the next 50 years is about the same as the risk of having a heart attack, about 1 in 450. A seismic network consisting of sensors and 224 stations provides regional and local real-time Utah earthquake monitoring. This information system is part of the Advanced National Seismic System. Tools include location, damage assessment, Shake Map, intensity and ground motion, and population exposure maps. This provides a fully automated system for the rapid portrayal of extent and severity of earthquakes. More information can be obtained through http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ens, notifications system and http://earthquake.usgs.gov/resources/software/shakecast . Chris DuRoss provided an historic geological overview of the Intermountain Seismic Belt going back 10,000 years. A bus tour along the Wasatch fault in the Salt Lake City area provided an overview of the geological features of the area. FEMA Region VIII Earthquake Response Dan Griffiths, Disaster Operation Division Director, and J. Kevin Moore, Operations Integration Branch Chief, FEMA Region VIII When FEMA Region VIII responds to an earthquake along the Wasatch fault, it presents some unique challenges and requires a great deal of planning, coordination and flexibility. An overview of what federal support can be expected was presented including; Coordinating the federal government’s response to support Utah’s needs Providing assistance to families and individuals Providing assistance to restore damaged and destroyed public infrastructure, Funding to help mitigate future earthquake effects. Dan Griffiths emphasized that “the state knows its jurisdiction better than FEMA ever will” so communication of needs from the state to FEMA is vitally important. FEMA’s earthquake response planning is based on a worst case scenario of a major earthquake occurring during the winter. This creates housing, transportation and communications problems. Kevin Moore described the process of getting resources to the incident and the support infrastructure required to distribute that support. Transportation corridors into the area, base camps for responders, Department of Defense facilities and points of distribution are all critical to effective support. For more information, contact Jkevin.moore@dhs.gov. MERS Briefing Norm Winterowd, Chief, Denver MERS, FEMA The Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) mission is to deploy, install, operate, maintain and protect telecommunications, logistics, and operations assets in support of planned special events and in response to all-hazards disasters assisting the federal, state, tribal, and local response personnel to minimize the suffering and disruption of the American people. There are five MERS detachments strategically placed around the country to support the ten FEMA Regions. An additional unit is made up of residual Mobile Air Transportable Telecommunications System (MATTS) equipment, and state-of-the-art Land Mobile Radio Equipment. Vehicle fleets provide the MERS detachments with over-the-road transportation of assets necessary to support virtually any contingency. MERS has the capability to set up field offices with full functioning communications in a matter of hours after arriving on scene. A Mobile Emergency Operations Vehicle was available for tours during the RISC. (Pictured above.) A Day in the Life of a Mission Assignment Charisse Fuqua, Training Specialist, FEMA Region VIII and The Mission Assignment Players Mike Kelsey, Battalion Chief, Salt Lake County Unified Fire - Incident Commander Jeff Graviet, Salt Lake County Emergency Services Coordinator - Local EOC Coordinator Dave Popelmayer, Utah State Emergency Operations Center - State EOC Director Dan Griffiths, FEMA, Disaster Ops Div. Director - Operations Section Chief Tom Schmidt, FEMA, Mission Assignment Manager - Mission Assignment Manager Ron Williams, Department of Highway Administration – ESF-1, Dept of Transportation Ron Pinheiro, Regional Emergency Coordinator for Health and Human Services - ESF-8, Health and Human Services The Mission Assignment Players enacted an earthquake scenario to demonstrate the Mission Assignment (MA) process. It was a dark, wintry afternoon… when this scenario began with a call from the incident commander to the local EOC coordinator to relay the conditions seen on the ground and describing his needs for support. In turn, the local EOC coordinator contacted the state EOC director to initiate a request for state- provided support. The state EOC director then contacted the FEMA operations section chief to notify him of the situation and the impending Action Request Form (ARF) they would initiate requesting federal support. The FEMA operations section chief then directed the mission assignment manager to begin the federal portion of the process. In this exercise, the Dept of Transportation (ESF-1) and Health and Human Services (ESF-8) representatives explained their roles and how their organizations respond to a mission assignment based upon agreement on activities to support the mission, cost and timeframe for performance. To decrease the amount of time needed to process mission assignments, FEMA has worked with the various agencies responsible for Emergency Support Functions (ESF) to develop pre-scripted mission assignments for large and complex incidents. The MA is the tool used to activate an ESF. It is also the only way for FEMA to fund an agency’s response. Catastrophic Planning Group Reports Catastrophic Planning Groups The focus of this RISC meeting was to connect individuals with various planning and response responsibilities to improve partnerships between those involved in the planning and response process and developing ESF specific annexes for a Regional Catastrophic Plan. Planning groups were comprised of representation from all of the emergency support functions. State and local emergency managers, FEMA, first responders, voluntary organization representatives, and the private sector met in two sessions to discuss priorities, constraints and solutions to responding to a catastrophic earthquake along the Wasatch Range. The individual groups arrived at the following common themes: Common priorities included Restoring damaged infrastructure Getting resources to the disaster Establishing communication and coordination. Common constraints focused on Access (transportation issues) due to debris and infrastructure failure Lack of sufficient resources i.e., personnel, shelters, commodities Limited command, control and communications (due to failures, inter-operability, size of disaster) All ESF Leads for the UT Catastrophic Earthquake Plan are reminded of the following suspense dates: 31 Aug 09: Final ESF Assumptions 30 Sep 09: Final ESF Checklists 30 Oct 09: Draft text for ESF Appendix 16 Nov 09: Draft Tables for ESF Appendix These are aggressive timelines to keep the planning on track and allow ample time for review, prior to plan approval scheduled for November, 2010.  Some workgroups at the RISC in Salt Lake City got further along than others, but these general guidelines are for all groups as we move forward with this essential data collection aspect.  Keeping to this timeframe is essential, as the ESF checklists will be utilized during the upcoming November RISC table top exercise. For additional information, please contact your planning representative or Mike Ordonez at Michael.ordonez@dhs.gov. Evaluation Survey Results Approximately 37% of participants responded to the survey provided at the July RISC meeting. Overall, participants understood the concepts presented and were very complimentary of how the meeting was organized and executed: “good mix of lecture, presentation, tour and planning” “overall, very interesting and educational and the networking opportunities were invaluable” “most informative Region VIII RISC meeting in 13 years” “excellent facilities and topics” “great logistics, support, location, food” Thanks to those who took the time to respond to the voluntary survey, which is one way we continually work to improve RISC meetings. We appreciate your interest and participation in the RISC. Please feel free to contact us with any comments, ideas for future topics or suggestions to make RISC meetings more useful. Please email your input to lynn.pedigo@dhs.gov SAVE THE DATE for the next RISC Meeting in Denver, Colorado November 17-18, 2009 The Editor