Partners in Preparedness Region VIII RISC The November RISC emphasized working together toward common goals. From the Chair... For the past year, the Region VIII RISC has undergone a sort of metamorphosis. It has developed into a collaborative, issue-focused forum with its doors open to not only our federal partners, but for those of us from local, state, tribal, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Let me step back for a moment and take this opportunity to share some of our successes from the year. In November of 2008, we asked for your feedback on what you would like the RISC to become. You identified a number of issues, including an integrated planning approach across the federal and state level, catastrophic planning, information on pandemic flu planning, mission assignments, and increased focus on the National Response Framework and the role of ESFs. Based on your input we changed the RISC format, focused on catastrophic planning and ESF roles, encouraged more local participation, formalized work groups and increased operational partnering. Most importantly, we’ve made a commitment to you; one that we intend to grow in the future. - Kristi Turman Under the direction of the developing and testing concepts executive committee, the for the Utah Catastrophic November 2009 RISC meeting Earthquake Plan. built upon the foundation laid in The one-and-a-half day Salt Lake City this past July. In schedule included presentations addition to important issue- from subject matter experts on focused presentations, we H1N1 preparedness and response, continued the hands-on task of (continued page 2) Robert DesRosier, Deputy Director, Emergency Management, Blackfeet Nation RISC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Kristi Turman, Director, SD Of?ce of Emergency Doug Gore, Acting Regional Administrator, Management and Executive Committee Chair FEMA Region VIII Dan Alexander, Director, Denver Of?ce of Joe Moore, Director,Wyoming Of?ce of Homeland Emergency Management & Homeland Security, Security the Denver UASI and Executive Committee Pamela Sillars, Colorado Emergency Preparedness Deputy Chair Partnership Michael Beaird, Emergency Manager, CENWD-Vacant, Voluntary Organization DDE, US Army Corps of Engineer REGION VIII RISC CONTINUED... Hard at Work: Command & General Staff (above) and Emergency services (below) breakout groups during the Utah Catastrophic Plan Table-Top Exercise. incident management teams, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, community preparedness best practices, expectations when working with the media, and the impacts of space weather on the region. The afternoon of Nov. 17 was dedicated to validating key planning concepts for the ongoing Utah Catastrophic Earthquake Plan through a tabletop exercise facilitated by SRA International. During the exercise,participants took part in a generalsession overview of the plan and goals for the exercise.Participants then disbursed into functional working groups based on Emergency Support Function (ESF) roles and responsibilities. They shared best practices and identi?ed resources and tasks involved in responding to a magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the Wasatch Fault in the Salt Lake City area. Although focused on acatastrophic event in Utah, participants quickly realized that assets from around the region would be the ?rst line of response.They also realized thatcollaborative e?orts bene?t the entire region by not only identifying common goals and procedures, but by building working relationships at all levels of government and with external partners. STATE AND URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIATIVE (UASI)ACTIVITIES INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM (IMT) OVERVIEW: REGION VIII HIGHLIGHTS Lanney Holmes, FEMA Region VIII NIMS Coordinator Tim McSherry, Incident Commander, Jefferson Born out of a recommendation from the Regional Advisory Council, FEMA Region VIIIcreated an initiative that was folded into its strategic plan to promote the creation, maintenance and interoperability of Type III all-hazard IMTs throughout the region. This initiative is supported by all six states and Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) areas in the region based upon feedback during a workshop held in March 2009. To formalize the structure of the Type III IMTproject, a committee for all-hazards IMTs was established. All of the region’s six states and UASI areas are currently working on creating Type III IMTs and are represented on the committee. E?orts are underway to formalize tribal representation as well. Under the auspices of the IMT RISC working group, this committee makes recommendations to the Region VIII Regional Advisory Council. Moving forward, the IMT committee will seek to provide position speci?c training and generalpolicy to assist our six states where needed. To be successful in the long-term, the committee must incorporate team training, mentoring and cross-functional training into its practices. County IMT In Colorado, Je?erson County serves as an example of the IMT structure in practice. While a Type IV event happens every day, a Type III is more complex and requires a written Incident Action Plan for each operational period. Most local capabilities are exceeded and the response level elevates to the point where Incident Command System (ICS)positions will be matched to meet the complexity of the incident. Most of Je?erson County has wildland and urban interface that requires an IMT in the response e?ort. The Je?erson County IMT completed its ?rst training in October 2001. Command and general sta? train as a team at least four times per year (this includes over 20 agencies from ?re, law enforcement, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service). Since 2002, Je?erson County IMT activations have been mainly during the?re season. The main advantage of the IMT structure is thata quicker response is possible for local events; increasing cost e?ectiveness, improving recovery andreducing the need for a Presidential Disaster Declaration. For more information, please contact Lanney Holmes at Lanney.Holmes@dhs.gov. Since Hurricane Katrina, and more recently the Presidential inauguration, Customs and BorderProtection ( CBP ) has been an integral player in the mission of U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION 101: SECURING BORDERS, FACILITATING LEGITIMATE TRADE AND INCIDENT MANAGEMENT Chuck Huthmaker, Chief Customs & Border Protection Of?cer, Of?ce of Intelligence & Operations Coordination, U.S. Department of Homeland Security the Department of Homeland After 9/11 the issue of border Security. The CBP defends security gained focus and manyAmerican borders against all changes have been made. In the threats and is the line of defense intervening years, this for ports of entry into the United responsibility has been States. CBP is one of the ?rst consolidated into U.S. Customs agencies with “boots on the and Border Protection. CBP now ground” and can respond very participates in the ESF-13 mission quickly to any disaster anywhere for FEMA Regions VI and VIII in the country. with the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). With a presence in 56 ports ofentry in 33 countries around the world, CBP has electronic surveillance on 85 percent of the trade destined for the United States. The CBP administration alone has 56,000 employees with an additional 44,000 badged andarmed o?cers in service. New technologies, such as non-intrusive inspection systems, sensors, video surveillance cameras, unmanned aerial systems,and the advanced passenger information Interpol interface provide critical help in CBP daily missions. A current issue facing CBP is violence along the southern border(due in part to low seizure rates from sta?ng shortfalls) as drug cartels from South and Central America attempt to gain access into the United States. For more information on CBP, or how they are involved in theESF-13 mission in Region VIII, contact Chuck Huthmaker at charles.huthmaker@dhs.ic.gov. The novel In?uenza A H1N1 virus was ?rst detected in the U.S. in April 2009 and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)immediately began planning to respond to the spreadof the virus. Early in the season (spring 2009) there was a rapid rise in cases with another spike in the fall. Currently, HHS is starting to see a decline in cases nationally, but they caution that a third phase of the virus is still anticipated in January/February 2010. H1N1 PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE Dr. Zachary Taylor, Regional Health Administrator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services LCDR Ron Pinheiro, Regional Emergency Coordinator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services To date, 200,000 cases of the virus have been recorded with 30,000 deaths. Pediatric hospitalization rates are higher than any other group (72 percent of which had additional risk factors), while the virus does not seem to have an impact on people 65 years or older. Other important notes to consider are that the H1N1 strain of the In?uenza virus is part of what we see every season, but that the virus keeps mutating. So far the CDC estimates 22 million cases worldwide. Dr. Zachary Taylor or LCDR Ron Pinheiro can be contacted at Zachary.Taylor@hhs.gov or Ronald.Pinheiro@hhs.gov. WHAT ONE COMMUNITY CAN DO TO BE BETTER PREPARED: THE HERITAGE EAGLE BEND STORY Bill Lane, Chair, Emergency Preparedness Committee for Heritage Eagle Bend Community Deanne Criswell, Coordinator, City of Aurora (CO) Of?ce of Emergency Management Located in Aurora, Colo., the Heritage Eagle Bend Community is primarily senior-occupied, butconsidered one of the best prepared communities in the nation. Bill Lane, chairman of the community’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, initiated basic preparedness activities throughout the community, and coordinates monthly meetings as needed to address important issues. Priority actions of the committee include developing evacuation plans and creating emergency stockpiles of essential supplies for the community. Additionally, a survey was developed to assess the needs of the nearly 1,500 homes and identify community assets such as doctors, nurses and medical supplies. This basic survey had an 85 percent response rate and helped identify training and supply needs for the community. Every new resident currently receives a copy of the survey whilefunding from the state and local hospitals has made it possible to procure equipment, generators and radios for the community in the event of an emergency. In 2007, the Heritage Eagle Bend Community won the Tri-County Public Health Hero of the Year Award. For more information, please contact Bill Lane at twobadgers@comcast.net. In today’s environment, you can ?nd information anywhere.Knowing how to control that information to relay your organization’s goals and activitiesrequires an understanding of howthe media works, especially duringa disaster response. Based on the size and scope ofthe disaster response, the EXPECTATIONS WHEN WORKING WITH THE MEDIA Lynn Kimbrough, Of?ce of the District Attorney, Denver, Colorado dynamics and interest of the media will vary. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) are almost essential in today’s world to relay information. In some ways, Facebook has become the new face of e-mail. It is critical to include crisis communication as part of the planning process. In the absence of concrete information about a disaster the media will often rely on uno?cial sources. In order to instill public con?dence and relay critical aspects of an emergency response, agencies need to be proactive in reaching out to media outlets regarding response activities. Make sure you have good intelligence on what is happening during the response, and utilizepartnerships to verify information whenever possible. In a disaster response, your credibility is your most important asset. By using some caution, andbeing proactive in your approach,you can successfully manage the expectations and informationneeds of most media and the general public. For more information on working with the media, please contact Lynn Kimbrough at lynn.kimbrough@denver.city.org. SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION AND IMPACTS OF SOLAR STORM ON THE U.S. Bill Murtagh, Program Coord. & Space Weather Forecaster, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center Joseph Kunches, Space Scientist, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center During the sun’s most active periods, solar wind disturbances (created by coronal mass ejections and ?ares) impact Earth’s magnetosphere, producing large magnetic storms lasting one or more days. These storms have been known to seriously damage electric power networks; a?ecting communications, damaging satellites and other technology-reliant systems. Geomagnetic storms induce electrical currents that can have a signi?cant impact on electricaltransmission equipment. Power companies have procedures in place to mitigate the impact of geomagnetic storms, but a worse-case scenario would result in a widespread blackout for a signi?cant period of time. On March 13, 1989, in Montreal, Quebec, six million people were without commercialelectric power for nine hours as a result of a geomagnetic storm. In October 2003, power blackouts in Sweden and signi?cant transformer damage in South Africa were attributed to geomagnetic storms. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate recognizes the potential threat space weather and peak solar activity pose. He has designated FEMA Region VIII to work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. as a center of excellence for space weather prediction. Together, FEMA and NOAAare working in conjunction with the European Unionon a best practice approach to geomagnetic storms. A workshop is scheduled for February 2010 in Boulder, Colo. that will focus on communication and coordinated response during a solar event. For more information, or to subscribe for real-time updates on space weather, please contact Bill Murtagh at bmurtagh@noaa.org. WORKING GROUP BRIEFS COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS WORK GROUP Contact: Stephanie Poore, FEMA Region VIII stephanie.poore@dhs.gov The Community Preparedness Work Group reported to the RISC on several activities: • Channel 4 Denver and the American Red Cross, together with FEMA, promoted a $1 per hour“Ready Kit” contest • National Preparedness Division and FEMAExternal A?airs held a Jeopardy-style game forNational Preparedness Month • CO and MT developed Fire-Ready Series • SD & UT partnered with FEMA for booths at their state fairs • Girl Scouts have partnered with FEMAnationally to develop a preparedness patch CRISIS COMMUNICATION/EXTERNAL AFFAIRS WORK GROUP Contact: Derek Jensen, FEMA Region VIII derek.jensen@dhs.gov The Crisis Communication/External A?airs work group briefed the following activities: • SA Tools site to share external a?airs resources has been developed • Agencies are developing checklists for key actions in catastrophic disaster response • Plan to work with local media in UT to get a better sense of capabilities and to strengthen partnerships with the media to help inform the public during a disaster CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE WORK GROUP Contact: Joe O’Keefe, Protective Security Advisor joseph.okeefe@dhs.gov The Critical infrastructure Protection Work Group has focused on these key areas: • Energy/electricity • Water/waste water • Telecommunication • Transportation • The Automated Critical Management System (ACMS) was utilized during an exercise to help evaluate assets. Additionally, they are working to support policiesand procedures of Incident Management Teams (IMT) to identify hazards in the private sector. TRIBAL RELATIONS WORK GROUP Contact: Scott Logan, Deputy Coordinator, FEMA Region VIII, National Preparedness Division. scott.logan@dhs.gov The following details tribal activities in the Region VIII States: • CO - Southern Ute’s partnered with state for an Operations Course • MT - FEMA helped sponsor and participate in an annual HazMat conference • ND - Focus is on the impacts of ?ooding. There have been more disasters declared here than any other state • UT -Activity has focused on grants assistance • WY - FEMA Logistics and National Preparedness are in Riverton regarding a POD project • SD - Focus has been on housing with assistance from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) REGIONAL INTERAGENCY STEERING COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 2009 Test Your Knowledge! The following is the winning response from the “Quick Readiness Quiz” distributed during the November RISC meeting. The winning entry received an autographed copy of Unthinkable, by Amanda Ripley. Contributors LYNN PISANO-PEDIGO Lynn Pisano-Pedigo is the Preparedness Analysis & Planning Of?cer (PAPO) for FEMA Region VIII . She has been the chief planner for the RISC in the region since November 2008 and is the chief editor of this newsletter. DANIEL NYQUIST Daniel Nyquist is the Preparedness Analysis & Planning Specialist (PAPS) for FEMA Region VIII. He has been a planner for the RISC meetings since July 2009 and is the content/layout editor for this newsletter. PAT SARIN & ANNA CHENG Both took copious notes during the RISC: Without them, this newsletter would not have been possible. The RISC meeting in FEMA Region VIII is a collaborative effort coordinated through the National Preparedness Division. For more information, please contact lynn.pedigo@dhs.gov or daniel.nyquist@dhs.gov. 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