emergency management magazine november / fall 2007 · 2016. 11. 28. · 6 contributors 12 river of...

inside: A new FEMA | Preventing agroterrorism | Increased training for rural fi rst responders

Fall 2007

Issu

e 4

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ol. 2

WITH HURRICANE DEAN HEADED STRAIGHT FOR TEXAS, PREPAREDNESS EFFORTS AT ALL LEVELS ENSUED.

IMMINENT

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_______ Editorial _______ Prepress

_________ Production _______ OK to go

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Contents

F E A T U R E S

26A Fresh LookFederal Emergency Management Agency director discusses the course of the “new FEMA.”

3Emergency Management

30Early WarningThe key component to an emergency telephone system is functionality.

20State of EmergencyWith Hurricane Dean headed straight for Texas, preparedness efforts at all levels ensued.

O N T H E C O V E R

PHOTO COURTESY OF HHS/SANDY BOGUCKI

34Silent AttackOffi cials say our agricultural system is an easy target for terrorism, so what can we do about it?

40On the Same WavelengthHendricks County, Ind., consolidates police, fi re and EMS 911 dispatching.

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4

A p u b l i c a t i o n o f

Founding Publisher: Tim Karney [email protected]

Publisher: Scott Fackert [email protected]

Executive Editor: Steve Towns [email protected]

EDITORIALEditor: Jessica Jones [email protected]

Associate Editor: Jim McKay [email protected]

Managing Editor: Karen Stewartson [email protected] Writers: Andy Opsahl, Chad Vander Veen, Tamara Warta Chief Copy Editor: Miriam Jones [email protected]

Editorial Assistant: Cortney Towns [email protected]

DESIGNCreative Director: Kelly Martinelli [email protected] Designers: Crystal Hopson [email protected] Michelle Hamm [email protected] Joe Colombo [email protected]: Tom McKeith [email protected] Director: Stephan Widmaier [email protected] Manager: Joei Heart [email protected] Director: Jude Hansen [email protected]

PUBLISHINGVP of Strategic Accounts: Jon Fyffe [email protected] Sr. Director of Sales: Pam Fyffe [email protected] Midwest, Central

Regional Sales Directors: East Leslie Hunter [email protected], Central Shelley Ballard [email protected] Managers: Melissa Cano [email protected] Krista O’Sullivan [email protected] Erin Hux [email protected] Director of Marketing: Andrea Kleinbardt [email protected] Sales Administrator: Shannon Durham [email protected] Sales Administrators: Nancy Glass [email protected] Sabrina Shewmake [email protected]. of Custom Events: Whitney Sweet [email protected] Events Manager: Lana Herrera [email protected] Events Coordinator: Karin Prado [email protected]. of Custom Publications: Stacey Toles [email protected] Publications Associate Editor: Emily Montandon [email protected] Development Director: Glenn Swenson [email protected] of Web Products and Services: Vikki Palazzari [email protected] Manager, Web Products and Services: Michelle Mrotek [email protected] Services Manager: Peter Simek [email protected] Advertising Manager: Julie Dedeaux [email protected] Coordinator: Gosia Ustaszewska [email protected]

CORPORATECEO: Dennis McKenna [email protected] VP: Don Pearson [email protected] VP: Cathilea Robinett [email protected]: Lisa Bernard [email protected]: Paul Harney [email protected] of Events: Alan Cox [email protected]

Government Technology’s Emergency Management is published by e.Republic Inc. © 2007 by e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors.

Article submissions should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor. Reprints of all articles in this issue and past issues are available (500 minimum). Please direct inquiries to Reprint Management Services (RMS): Attn. Tonya Martin at (800)360-5549 ext.157 or <[email protected]>.

Subscription Information: Requests for subscriptions may be directed to subscription coordinator by phone or fax to the numbers below. You can also subscribe online at <www.emergencymgmt.com>.

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100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630 Phone: (916)932-1300 Fax: (916)932-1470<www.emergencymgmt.com>

Contents

F E A T U R E S

44Stuck in a StormUnacceptable response to a Valentine’s Day snowstorm in Pennsylvania prompts an emergency management investigation.

R E S T O F T H E B O O K

6Contributors

12River of RefuseIn 1972, a coal slurry impoundment dam in a West Virginia county fi lled with rainwater and collapsed, sending black wastewater through Buffalo Creek hollow.

8Editor’s LetterGlobal Guides

10In the Field

16EM Bulletin

18In the News

14Major PlayerVint Cerf, Honorary Chair, IPv6 Task Force; Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google Inc.

58Last WordAct Now for 211

57Products

O N L I N E E X C L U S I V E S

<www.emergencymgmt.com>

A $175 million investment adds emergency generators to more than 650 stores.

Flood prevention partnership adds up in Sarasota County, Fla.

Powering Disaster Recovery Action + Involvement = Savings

48Up to SpeedDomestic preparedness consortium boosts training for rural fi rst responders.

52Th e Ultimate TestA governor’s performance during a disaster speaks to his or her abilities as an overall leader and manager.






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Dell recommends Windows Vista® Business.

U.S. only. Offers available only to qualifi ed government customers, may not be available under all contracts and are subject to restrictions in your applicable contract. Dell cannot be responsible for pricing or other errors, and reserves the right to cancel orders arising from such errors. Windows Vista: Windows Vista has not been tested on all user confi gurations, and drivers may not be available for some hardware devices and software applications. Check www.support.dell.com for latest driver availability. Trademarks: Dell, the Dell logo, and Latitude are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel Core2 Duo and Intel Core2 Duo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this piece to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and names other than its own. ©2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. 79991767

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Contributors

Yannello is a journalist based in Sacramento, Calif. She has spent nearly 20 years covering California politics, health care and health-care reform, issues of homelessness, and the public policy and treatment issues surrounding mental illness.

6

Jones is also the associate editor of Public CIO, a bimonthly journal, and Government Technologymagazine. She was education reporter for the Hollister(Calif.) Freelance.

Jessica Jones Editor

McKay also is the justice editor of Government Technology magazine. He has spent more than a decade as a writer, editor and contributing writer for publications including Th e Fresno (Calif.) Bee, Th e Vacaville (Calif.)Reporter and Th e Ring magazine.

David Raths Contributing Writer

Amy Yannello Contributing Writer

Douglas has worked as a contributing writer since 2000. Along with Emergency Management, her work includes the magazine’s sister publications, Government Technology,Public CIO and Texas Technology.

Merrill Douglas Contributing Writer William Eggers

Contributing Writer

Chandler Harris Contributing Writer

Harris is a regular contributorto Emergency Managementmagazine, and has written for Adventure Sports Journal, Surfer’s Journal, Information Week, Government Technology and Digital Communities magazines. He is the former editor of Shout Out newspaper.

Jim McKay Associate Editor

Eggers is a senior fellow at the New York-based Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He examines how technology can be used to reinvent government structures for greater effi ciency. He is also the global director for Deloitte Research-Public Sector. where he is responsible for research and thought leadership for Deloitte’s public-sector practice.

Michael Curran Contributing Writer

Michael P. Curran is a writer living in Westchester County, N.Y.

Towns is the editor of Government Technologymagazine, and the associate editor of Public CIO.

Steve Towns Executive Editor

Raths is based in Philadelphia.Formerly managing editor of InfoWorld and Th e Portland (Ore.) Business Journal. He has written for Inc., Computerworld, Business Ethics, Online Learning and Government Technology magazines.






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8

Of the many things Damon P. Coppola, author of

Introduction to Emergency Management, said during the

forum, I was most intrigued with this: “Recognize that

someday, the U.S. will require signifi cant international

disaster assistance.”

As a nation, we’re accustomed to helping other

countries, not being on the receiving end, right? Con-

sequently we don’t have a streamlined approach — or

any approach, really — to handle support from other

nations, which was apparent aft er Hurricane Katrina. As

government response systems failed post-Katrina, non-

government organizations and government-sponsored

volunteer organizations received only a small percentage

of federal relief funding due to restrictive policies.

“Th rough an inaccurate assumption that the United

States would always provide, not receive, interna-

tional disaster assistance, its international capacity has

been handled entirely by the U.S. Agency for Interna-

tional Development virtually independent of FEMA

or any other domestic resource,” Coppola said. “While

very little operational support and almost no in-kind

assistance was ultimately accepted, a lack of planning,

experience and exercise in this area left DHS ill-equipped

to accept or utilize that which was off ered.”

Truth is, if a disaster similar to — or worse than — Ka-

trina occurs, we must be ready to accept aid. And there’s

a lot to handle when international “guests” step on U.S.

soil, like ensuring they clear immigration and customs,

and adhere to the Incident Command System.

As Coppola noted, “One must consider why, as the

nation prepares for various low-likelihood scenarios

including radiological and nuclear attacks, is this

more probable prospect [of accepting international

aid] ignored?”

Some may argue that radiological and nuclear attacks

are likely, in which case, we’ll need international aid.

So shouldn’t we start fi guring that out? Where better

to look for guidance in implementing procedures than

allied countries?

Coppola said that when the international emergency

management topic is broached, the frail emergency

management and civil protection systems of the devel-

oping world typically come to mind. But there are many

highly successful emergency management systems,

practices and practitioners in industrialized and devel-

oping nations: “From each, we stand to learn consider-

ably,” he said. “Th eir lessons become our lessons only

when we pay attention.”

So let’s pay attention. Let’s learn from our U.S. emer-

gency management counterparts, and from around the

globe. Everyone’s got something to teach us. k

Global Guides

Editor’s Letter

Questions or comments? Please give us your input by contacting our editorial department at [email protected], or visit our Web site at <www.emergencymgmt.com>.

L E A D , F O L L O W O R G E T O U T O F T H E W A Y .

O

Jessica JonesEditor

October 10 was the offi cial International Day for DisasterReduction, and using this day for its purpose — to promote a global culture of natural disaster reduction — the Emer-gency Information Infrastructure Partnership held a vir-tual forum titled International Lessons Learned in Disaster Response: What the U.S. Can Learn from Other Nations.

Emergency Management






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10

In the FieldA public executive’s leadership in a disaster could become

his or her most important legacy. Th e strong management, eff ective coordination of emergency response, and frequent radio and TV appearances, for example, made New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani a national fi gure aft er the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the recovery operation of which is shown here.

To read more about how a governor’s performance in an emer-

gency may shape that governor’s future career, turn to page 52.






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12

In 1972, a coal slurry impoundment dam in one West Virginia county fi lled with rainwater and collapsed, sending black wastewater through Buffalo Creek hollow.

During the days preceding Feb. 26, 1972, rain fell continuously in Logan County, W. Va. Th e 5,000 people living in the county’s 16 mining communities had no idea that the coal slurry impoundment dam above them, crammed with toxic sludge from mining operations, was fi lling with water and becoming unstable.

“Th ere was such a cold stillness,” one Logan County resident described in the book Everything in Its Path, by Kai T. Erikson. “Th ere was no words, no dogs, no nothing. It felt like you could reach out and slice the stillness.”

At 8:05 a.m., the coal slurry dam col-lapsed, sending 132 million gallons of black wastewater through the narrow Buff alo Creek hollow. Th e water and coal refuse was 30 feet high and 550 feet across, cascading more than 15 miles down Buf-falo Creek. 125 people were killed, 1,121 were injured and more than 4,000 people were left homeless.

Property damage included the com-plete destruction of 507 houses, 44 mobile homes, 30 businesses, 10 bridges and 1,000 vehicles; and power, water and telephone lines were destroyed.

Disasters in WaitA coal slurry impoundment is a reser-

voir fi lled with thick liquid waste from coal processing, oft en constructed by damming a valley with rock and earth. Residents of West Virginia — then and now — oft en view coal slurry impoundments as disas-ters waiting to happen.

Th e dam at Buff alo Creek, it turned out, had been seen as a potential hazard for at least four years before the disaster. Warn-ings, however, were heeded by neither the coal company, nor state or federal offi cials, said Jack Spadaro, former inspector for the U.S. Offi ce of Surface Mining and federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. Spadaro also was part of the West Virginia commission that investigated the disaster.

In 1972, state mining laws required mining dams to receive state permits and maintain a regulated level of stability. Four days before the Buff alo Creek fl ood, the dam was declared “satisfactory” by a fed-eral mine inspector.

Aft er the Buff alo Creek disaster, how-ever, a federal Bureau of Mines report stated, “Th e dams were not designed or engineered on the basis of a thorough

knowledge of the engineering properties of coal processing refuse.”

It was found that the dam at Buff alo Creek was built on top of an unstable dried-up coal waste impoundment.

“On the morning the failure occurred, the dam had a piping foundation failure and internal erosion where the dam itself starts to dissolve and erode from within, called liquefaction,” Spadaro said. “Th e whole dam dissolved like sugar in water.”

As a result of the Buff alo Creek disas-ter, the West Virginia Legislature passed the state Dam Control Act in 1973, which required coal operators to either repair or drain existing dams to meet new safety requirements.

By 1977, however, not a single dam had been inspected, and several others col-lapsed, according to the Encyclopedia of Appalachia. In 1977, Congress enacted the federal Surface Mining Control and Recla-mation Act, citing the Buff alo Creek inci-dent as a primary to the legislation.

Rigorous StandardsWest Virginia currently has 987 active

mines, 111 of which have active coal

River of RefuseChandler Harrisby

Rebounding

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This aerial view of the Buffalo Creek area was taken the day after impoundment dam No. 3 failed.






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13

impoundments. Th e Association of State Dam Safety Offi cials lists 245 high-hazard potential dams in West Virginia in 2006, 33 of which need to be fi xed. None of them are coal dams, said Jessica Greathouse, chief communications offi cer for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Currently coal dams are regulatedby three federal agencies: the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

At the state level, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the Miners’ Health Safety and Training Offi ce also monitor coal impoundments. Currently coal operators must receive state and federal approval of construction plans before they build new dams.

“Now, the same thing [like the Buff alo Creek disaster] would unlikely happen because of engineering requirements on mining companies that build dams in this state,” Greathouse said. “Plans are rigor-ously inspected and reviewed by our own engineers before a dam is constructed.”

Coal slurry dams in West Virginia are inspected monthly, and if a dam is found unstable or has any points of weakness, Greathouse said the mining company must fi x the problem immediately or its operations will be forcibly closed.

Each company that maintains a coal slurry impoundment has an emergency action plan — including an evacuation route and a call list — to alert downstream residents in the event of a disaster.

Yet most impoundments are located in rural areas, and there are nearly always

downstream neighbors, which Greathouse said doesn’t preclude the possibility of a coal slurry fl ood.

In Logan County, emergency procedures consist of an alarm siren at the county fi re-house; and an emergency operation plan that includes evacuation routes, police announcements on radio, fi re responders who help evacuation, and a countywide emergency phone notifi cation system that will soon be installed.

Déjà Vu?Even with improved emergency plans

and more rigorous standards, Logan County residents remain wary of the 25 coal slurry dams in the county.

“Every time it rains hard, we have to go around and reassure our residents that everything is OK,” said Roger Bryant, di-rector of the Logan County Offi ce of Emer-gency Management. “Water will run out of the corner of a dam, but that’s what it’s de-signed to do, to breach on the corner.”

Residents of West Virginia and other states with heavy mining operations might have something to worry about, since the nation’s largest coal slurry spill occurred in 2000 in Inez, Ky. Th e spill was called the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of the Eastern United States by the Environmental Protection Agency, dumping 306 million gallons of toxic sludge down 100 miles of waterways.

Spadaro, who has spent most of his professional life fi guring how these spills occur and how to prevent them, found that executives at Martin County Coal and federal regulators were aware of the poten-tial for a catastrophic failure at the slurry

dam, but didn’t take proper actions to avoid it.

Now Spadaro warns that mining operations in West Virginia and elsewhere are not operating with enough oversight. He believes the potential exists for another Buff alo Creek disaster in West Virginia, where coal slurry impoundments built above abandoned mines could give way and send toxic water shooting out of the mouths of old mines.

“Th e state of West Virginia isn’t doing its job,” Spadaro said. “Th ere are 150 coal waste dams in West Virginia, 50 to 60 per-cent of which are sitting on top of aban-doned mine workings. Th e state hasn’t required mine operators to do technical engineering analysis to ensure safety and long-term stability.”

Greathouse said the Department of Environmental Protection regulates mine impoundments to the fullest extent under law. Yet federal regulations aren’t requiring enough geotechnical engineering analysis, and the Mine Safety and Health Admin-istration does not have enough oversight and regulation, Spadaro said.

“Th ere are 650 coal refuse dams in the country, and 225 are sitting on top of old mine workings,” Spadaro said. “Th at means there are 225 potential breakthroughs.”

In August 2007, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protec-tion and West Virginia Mine Safety Office announced they would collaborate to review how close underground coal mines in the state are to aboveground impoundments, according to the West Virginia Metro News. The announcement came shortly after it was discovered that underground mining in Wyoming County, W.Va., was taking place too close to an impoundment. k

PHOTO BY KENT KESSINGER

Out of fi ve front-page stories in The Charleston Gazette on Feb. 29, 1972 — three days after the coal slurry dam collapsed — three fea-tured the results of the collapse and fl ood.

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How does IPv6 create more mobility? Th ere’s some-thing called DHCP [Dynamic Host Confi guration Protocol] — a way in which you connect to the Net and you’re assigned an IP address, so building emer-gency networks quickly is readily done in both IPv4 and IPv6 contexts.

Mobility — movement from one IP address to another — if you disconnect from the Net, maybe you physically disconnect and you plug in somewhere else, you oft en get a diff erent IP address.

Dynamic networking and the so-called mobile access networks that self-organize, are very important for emergency services, networking and sensing types of services. I think we can achieve our objectives with IPv4 or IPv6 — IPv6 has more address space available.

How else is IPv6 useful to the emergency man-agement field? In many emergency communica-tion systems, radio compatibility is required for the emergency responders to communicate with each other. In the absence of compatible radios, you fi nd voice communication is extremely awkward to impossible.

If we were to move to a voice over IP architecture, then the end-to-end communication would be digitally formatted and use basic Internet protocols. Th e hosts, or the computers at both ends, are communicating end-to-end through IP; they’re not conscious that there were several diff erent formats in which these packets were embedded, nor were they conscious that there were several diff erent frequencies that you hopped between.

If we move to a voice over IP architecture, we have a huge opportunity to make the compatibility among all emergency services parties much easier because they’ll be able to communicate with voice over IP. Of course, if they’re running Internet protocols, they also [can] do a lot of other things together.

Can you give some specifi c examples? Th ey can be collaborating looking through Google Earth, for example, with overlays to tell them where the emer-gency situations, emergency workers, [and] casualties are, where the hazardous material is, which way the wind is blowing, who I have to get out of the way of this gaseous cloud.

All of that collaborative stuff works because you’re in a common Internet environment. I don’t mean to suggest that just putting Internet in there solves all the problems, but it creates a layer of compatibility, which today is inhibited by too much dependence on too low a level of compatibility. We want higher-level compatibility among all of the services, which Inter-net is designed to off er. k

The current Internet design — Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) — was standardized in 1978, and has 4.3 billion unique terminations, more commonly known as addresses.

“We can foresee a time when the allocations of addresses will end,” said Cerf, who is known for his work in helping to create the Internet.

The number of unique Internet addresses in IPv4, he said, will run out around 2011.Enter IPv6, which has “about 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses — or 3.4 x 1038,” Cerf said. This exponential

number of IP addresses means more mobile devices, which benefi ts emergency management.

Major Player

Steve Towns and Jessica Jonesby

Vint CerfHonorary Chair, IPv6 Task Force, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google Inc.

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To read more about Vint Cerf’s views on IPv6, and see his interview on GTtv, visit <www.govtech.com/em>.






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Copyright © 2006 ESRI. ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, ArcGIS, ESRI—The GIS Company, ArcGIS, ArcScene, ArcEditor, The Geographic Advantage, ArcMap, ArcInfo, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

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GIS supports homeland security by

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4 Displaying and analyzing potential threats

4 Tracking and displaying vehicle locations, sensor data, weather, hospital status, camera views, traffi c patterns, and other dynamic information

4 Creating the Common Operating Picture by increasing situational awareness for preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery

4 Modeling potential emergency events for planning, preparedness, and response

Creating the Common Operating Picture with GISOrganizations of all sizes are challenged with collecting, analyzing, and visualizing complex data and information for the protection of citizens and critical infrastructure. Geographic information system (GIS) software can integrate information from a variety of sources with geographic data to create situational awareness. The fusion of real-time data (weather, sensors, vehicles, threats) with geographic data (buildings, bridges, stadiums, harbors, etc.) provides actionable information for emergency managers and homeland security professionals.

ESRI® ArcGIS® software gives you the geographic advantage in solving your homeland security needs.

To learn more about GIS, fi nd detailed case studies at www.esri.com/homelandsecurity.

GIS Provides the Geographic AdvantageImproving Situational Awareness

Map and analyze vulnerabilities in underground critical infrastructure using GIS.

Track aircraft and identify those that present a potential risk to critical assets through a GIS-based common operating picture.






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EM Bulletin

Disaster DrillIN CONJUNCTION WITH the 2nd annual National Emergency Preparedness Conference in Sacramento, Calif., the Sacramento Regional Citizen Corps Council held a full-scale disaster drill to help Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) prepare for an incident.

In this drill — one of the largest CERT drills in the country — held Oct. 13, 2007, CERTs responded to a fl ood, helped evacuate a collapsed hospital wing, triaged victims, received vaccina-tions, helped with the special-needs population and evacuated animals.

Magnitude 5.6LITTLE DAMAGE was reported following a moderate earthquake the night of Oct. 30, 2007, that struck northeast of San Jose. Th e magnitude 5.6 temblor is one of the larger quakes to hit the San Francisco Bay Area since the major Loma Prieta quake of 1989, which measured a magnitude 6.9. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earth-quake hit at 8:04 p.m. (PDT) and was centered fi ve miles north-northeast of Alum Rock.

Th e quake was felt over a wide area. Bay Area Rapid Transit trains were stopped for several min-utes following the quake, but offi cials said that was standard procedure following an earthquake. — Disaster News Network

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Operation Virtual ShieldTHE CHICAGO Offi ce of Emergency Manage-ment and Communications (OEMC), in conjunc-tion with IBM, plans to implement one of the most advanced citywide intelligent security systems as part of Chicago’s Operation Virtual Shield, a proj-ect that encompasses one of the world’s largest video security deployments. In collaboration with its business partners Firetide and Genetec, IBM successfully deployed the infrastructure build-out for Operation Virtual Shield, with plans to expand the network throughout the city.

Phase one included building a unifi ed fi ber network throughout the downtown Chicago area, deploying a critical wireless infrastruc-ture to off er fl exibility as required, installing hundreds of new surveillance cameras, linking thousands of pre-existing cameras to the net-work, and creating a fully redundant back-end system to monitor the video, store the images and allow for business continuity and disaster recovery applications.

Chicago’s security solution is designed to provide several benefi ts to both city offi cials and citizens, including real-time video surveillance intelligence for homeland security monitor-ing; faster response time to emergencies; more eff ective deployment of emergency responders; and increased travel effi ciency through traffi c congestion tracking. — Chicago Offi ce of Emergency Management and Communications

Special NeedsAS PART OF NATIONAL Preparedness Month in October, Fairfax County, Va., launched the Special Needs Registry, which includes the Medical Needs Registry and the Social Needs Registry. Th is online tool, found at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/specialneeds, allows residents with medi-cal needs and organizations assisting those with social needs to provide Fairfax County with information so the county can convey informa-tion about emergency preparedness, response and recovery resources to vulnerable, at-risk and hard-to-reach residents.

Th e Medical Needs Registry contains individu-als with temporary or chronic high-risk health conditions who cannot manage for themselves in a shelter or evacuation center. Th e Social Needs Reg-istry is used by Fairfax County to facilitate access to groups in need of specialized communications and/or transportation during an emergency. — Fairfax County, Va.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EARTHSCOPE

Finding the FaultFOR THE FIRST TIME, geologists have extracted intact rock samples from 2 miles beneath the surface of the San Andreas Fault — the infamous rupture that runs 800 miles along the length of California. With this newly recovered material, scientists hope to answer long-standing questions about the fault’s composition and properties.

“Now we can hold the San Andreas Fault in our hands,” said Mark Zoback, the Benjamin M. Page Professor of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. “We know what it’s made of. We can study how it works.”

One of the big questions the researchers seek to answer is how — when most of the fault moves in violent, episodic upheavals — can there be a section where the same massive tectonic plates seem, by comparison, to gently tiptoe past each other with the delicate tread of little cat feet? — U.S. Geological Survey

The green rock on the right, called serpentinite, is a strand of the San Andreas fault.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO/BY PETER J. SCHULTZ

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In the NewsIn October, 16 fi res in California

scorched about 425 square miles from north of Los Angeles to southeast of San Diego, and were being battled by more than 6,000 fi refi ghters. As of Oct. 23, 750 homes were lost and 68,000 more were threatened. “We have, so far, one death, and 18 fi refi ghters have been injured,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Lake Arrowhead Fire Zone. A second person died on Oct. 24.

According to San Diego County offi cials, approximately 513,000 people in the district received mandatory evacuation orders, while another 12,000 people were advised to leave.

Just before 4 a.m. EDT on Oct. 23, President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven California counties, speeding up disaster-relief efforts. Here, a fi re burns a hillside as it moves west toward San Diego on Oct. 23. k

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Emergency Management

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August 17 distinguished itself from any other day in Texas state emergency preparedness, not for what was happening

at the time, but for what could pos-sibly happen.

Hurricane Dean had made its way past the Lesser Antilles and was mov-ing very rapidly toward the Gulf of Mexico. “All storm projections at that point showed the entire Texas coast well within the storm’s projected path,” said Krista Moody, deputy press secre-tary for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

But unlike in hurricanes Rita and Katrina, offi cials would not be caught off -guard this time.

WITH HURRICANE DEAN HEADED STRAIGHT FOR TEXAS, PREPAREDNESSEFFORTS AT ALL LEVELS ENSUED.

B Y A M Y Y A N N E L L O

PHOTO COURTESY OF FEMA/DON JACKS

Nearly 700 ambulances responded to San Antonio on Aug. 22, 2007, as part of the critical asset deployment for Hurricane Dean.This mass showing was the largest mobilization of ambulances in U.S. history.






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On August 17, President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in Texas, days before Hurricane Dean was predicted to strike the Gulf Coast, United Press International reported. Federal aid would supplement state and local response to the impending disaster.

But Texas offi cials weren’t waiting to be rescued.

On the same day, Perry declared Hurricane Dean an “imminent threat” to Texas, initi-ating full-scale hurricane preparedness eff orts — including deployment of 5,000 Texas National Guard troops and more than 1,000 paramedics, police officers and firefighters, according to the governor’s office. Public safety officials reported that at least 25,000 people would be involved in the mobiliza-tion effort.

“With the potential of another major storm entering the Gulf of Mexico and threatening the Texas coast, now is the time to begin mobilizing our resources and implementing our plan to ensure an orderly response before landfall,” Perry said at a press conference that day. “As we

continue to monitor Hurricane Dean, the state is preparing to deploy ample resources, manpower and equipment to meet any potential need to ensure the safety of Texas residents.”

It’s no secret now that Dean never landed on Texas ground. However, that didn’t stop Texas emergency management offi cials from executing their plan to evacuate more than 100,000 residents, distribute millions of gallons of fuel throughout the state, and secure more than 3,000 buses from across the nation.

Collaboration is KeyIn contrast to Rita, where the private sector

participated in the relief eff ort but wasn’t inte-gral in planning the response, offi cials point to the private sector’s role as instrumental in their success this time around.

“When it comes to the storage and distribu-tion of commodities — fuel, water, ice, phar-maceuticals, diapers — the private sector does it best,” said Steven McCraw, Texas Homeland Security director. “Although we had worked closely with the private sector [during Rita], we had not partnered with the private sector and organized our response capability around them to leverage their expertise.”

As a result, McCraw said, when the governor’s Emergency Management Council is activated in anticipation of a hurricane, private-sector partners are called together to begin their support functions.

Using a unifi ed command structure, where all participants — federal, state and local — are under one command, Texas Emergency Management Chief Jack Colley was able to coor-dinate with a host of agencies and local govern-ments so that the response was “seamless.”

“Th e size and scope of this operation … we couldn’t have done this any other way,” he said.

Instructive ExerciseOne success experienced was the use of a fuel

operations group — made up of 24 providers throughout the state — that helped monitor fuel demand and move fuel through the retail system. During the Dean exercise, it moved 4 million gallons of fuel to stations up and down the state.

“Th at went very right for us,” Colley said.Also going right was the operations group’s

ability to move another 400,000 gallons of fuel

“With the potential of another major storm entering the Gulf of Mexico and threatening the Texas coast, now is the time to begin mobilizing our resources and implementing our plan to ensure an orderly response before landfall.”— Rick Perry, governor, Texas

When Hurricane Dean appeared to threaten south Texas on Aug. 20, 2007, air medical assets — helicopters with crews — for which FEMA contracted with American Medical Response were activated to assist the state in evacuating hospitals, nursing homes, and patients living at home with signifi cant medical problems. PHOTO COURTESY OF HHS/SANDY BOGUCKI

On Aug. 21, 2007, Texas Task Force Two, an integral part of the United States’ search and rescue capability, awaits forward deployment to Texas’ Gulf Coast as part of this nation’s Hurricane Dean response. PHOTO COURTESY OF FEMA/DON JACKS

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to the responders in the fi eld — the 3,000 buses, 300 ambulances and other assorted personnel.

Colley said the operation’s primary focus centered on the Texas coast and, specifi cally, the Rio Grande Valley.

“[Th e valley] is a very dynamic area, no resources are there, and our biggest challenge is the large number of people who need assistance in evacuating,” Colley said. “So everything had to be brought to them.”

It’s also a 10-hour bus ride round-trip, through rocky terrain, just to get to the coun-

ties and back, let alone the extra time it takes to evacuate people, so offi cials started their rescue mission early.

School districts throughout the state stepped up, no questions asked, and sent fl eets of buses to San Antonio, while commercial providers throughout the nation did the same.

Using San Antonio as a staging area, offi -cials checked buses for safety and sent them on their way — about 1,500 of them, with another 1,500 on stand-by, through Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties. Th eir initial charge: Pick up 133,500 people who — because they are elderly, disabled or car-less — couldn’t evacuate on their own. Of those, 9,000 are considered to have special needs, and another 1,600 are non-ambulatory. Th ree hundred ambulances followed. Residents in need had been identifi ed in the previous year and a half through the statewide 211 registry system, offi cials said.

“We didn’t evacuate aft er all,” Colley said. “But if the storm hadn’t turned toward Mexico, we were prepared. We had planned for the worst.”

Again and again, Colley stressed the coor-dination of the fuel delivery system and the transportation of evacuation buses as being two major successes in the operation.

“It’s not any single organization that can handle a disaster, so when we come together, the patches on the shirts stay at the door.” — Tom Polonis, captain, San Antonio Police Department

Hurricane Dean entered the Caribbean through the St. Lucia Channel between St. Lucia and Martinique on August 17, while still a Category 2 hurricane. The storm killed three people, damaged buildings throughout the island chain and devastated the agricultural economies of St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica. This is a beach on Martinique after Hurricane Dean passed through.

An aerial of roughly 300 ambulances staged in San Antonio, Texas, in preparation for Hurricane Dean.PHOTO COURTESY OF HHS/SANDY BOGUCKI






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24

Th e Texas Department of Transportation began displaying public service announcements urging residents to keep their gas tanks full.

“Th e use of our fuel group to ensure there’s no shortage is key,” Colley said, “so citizens can take care of themselves and make the decision that when it’s time to leave, they can leave.”

As for those who can’t, “Th e collaboration statewide with school districts to provide school buses — having that capability now really adds to the success we can have in evacuating people who cannot evacuate themselves,” Colley added.

Capt. Tom Polonis of the San Antonio Police Department served as regional commander for the Alamo Regional Command Center during the Dean response, supervising more than 600 law enforcement personnel and directing work at the staging area.

Because of San Antonio’s proximity to the Rio Grande Valley, and its large number of disabled and elderly residents, in 2005, offi cials there formed the Alamo All-Incident Management Team composed of area nonprofi ts, members of the private sector and public agencies. Th e team meets monthly for training and strategy sessions and, perhaps most important to the mission, Polonis said, they present a unifi ed front.

“It’s not any single organization that can handle a disaster,” Polonis said, “so when we come together, the patches on the shirts stay at the door. I might represent the police depart-ment, but when I’m on the team, I represent the team. We all have to work together toward a single goal.”

During the Dean response, between 40 and 50 agencies were represented — including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and public health services, and the local Baptist Child and

Family Services was there to assist people with special needs. Th e San Antonio Food Bank provided meals for more than 3,000 responders. Th e Texas military helped stage all the buses and manage the fueling plan.

Th ere were also more than 50 private-sector companies, including the 24 fuel providers, that were ready to help out, McCraw said.

“Th e one thing we didn’t have with Katrina or Rita? Defi nitely partnering with the private sector,” he said, adding that it makes a diff erence when trying to deploy resources quickly.

“Th e governor’s been very clear: We don’t gamble with the lives of Texans,” McCraw said. “So if the Texas coast is threatened, his order is you deploy based on risk, not occurrence. Th at’s why we started fi ve days before [the hurricane was supposed to hit].

“Once the tropical winds arrive — even if they’re 35 mph — you cannot move resources into an area,” he added. “It’s too late at that point.”

Th at meant buses making the long trek into the Rio Grande Valley had to arrive in time to be pre-positioned in case of evacuation, as well as come equipped with resources for evacuees.

“Th e best lesson we learned is this: Th e private sector must be leveraged,” McCraw said. “Th ey’re the experts, not government. We’re very proud of our private sector. Th ey’re right there with us. Between Rita and Dean, it’s like night and day.”

Still LearningNot everything went according to plan, and

offi cials are already refi ning their response for next time.

For instance, Polonis said offi cials didn’t realize they would have to stage the responders

in San Antonio for more than 24 hours (they ended up being there for more than 48 hours), and found they didn’t have enough shelter.

“We’ll have to do a better job of providing enough shelter for the 3,000 bus drivers, 300 ambulance drivers — and that’s before they’re sent out, and then aft er they get back and provide shelter until the storm passes,” Polonis said. “It’s something we’re already working on.”

Th e timing of the bus arrivals into the city and fueling lines needs refi nement as well.

“We have to do a better job so that all the buses aren’t coming into our city at once,” he said. “Instead of 1,000 coming at one time, have them phased in, coming in by the hour instead. We’re already working with bus contractors on that.”

Th ose missteps aside, Polonis is confi dent that his state’s response to Hurricane Dean was light years ahead of where they were just two years ago with Katrina and Rita — and that’s something to be proud of.

“Th ere’s no doubt about it; all the preparation we did paid off ,” Polonis said. “All the training paid off . To quote Jack Colley, ‘All roads lead to San Antonio.’ And this operation wouldn’t have been possible pre-Katrina. It wouldn’t have been as organized. We would have attempted it, but it would have been ugly.”

For Krista Moody of Gov. Perry’s offi ce, the best lesson learned: “Texas is ready.” k

In Denver, on Aug. 18, 2007, FEMA’s Denver-based Mobile Emergency Response Support leaves for Texas to support opera-tions ahead of Hurricane Dean. PHOTO COURTESY OF FEMA/MICHAEL RIEGER

Hurricane Dean shown on Aug. 20, 2007, at approximately 1841 Coordinated Universal Time. This image was produced from data from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-18 satellite. PHOTO COURTESY OF NOAA






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26

FreshBy Jim McKay

LookA Federal

Emergency Management Agency director discusses the course of the ‘new FEMA.’






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R. David Paulison was appointed as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in September 2005 following the resignation of then-Director Michael Brown.

In October, at the National Emergency Prepared-ness Conference in Sacramento, Calif., Paulison spoke of FEMA’s evolution. He relayed this message to state and local public safety agencies and local political leaders: “FEMA is undergoing change, and we will prove it.”

Emergency Management magazine spoke with the director about the changes at FEMA and what they mean to state and local governments.

Q: FEMA responded in a much timelier

manner during recent disasters. Is this a

standard state and local governments can

count on in the future?

A: Absolutely. We are changing the way we’re going to respond to disasters. We are no longer going to wait for a local government or a state to become overwhelmed before FEMA moves in.

Now, we’re not coming in to take over, so don’t misread what I’m saying. We want to come in as a partner — staying in there side by side with the local government and state — so if there’s a gap to fi ll, we know what the needs are and can move those supplies or whatever they happen to need very quickly, not waiting for something to fail before we respond.

Q: You talked about some of the restruc-

turing within FEMA. Can you offer some

specifi cs on how this is making it possible

for you to respond, and how this will affect

the future?

A: Th e most important thing we’re doing is changing the culture of the organization and bringing in people who know what they’re doing — regional directors, or people with decades of experience dealing with disasters. And I’m using that same type of philosophy inside of FEMA — inside the Beltway in Wash-ington — making sure that people managing this organization are emergency responders who know what they’re doing and have credibility in the fi eld. So they know where I want to go; they know I want a much more forward-leaning, much more inventive organization.

Q: Will there be any changes to the funding

model or how the funds are distributed in the

near future?

A: If you’re talking about the grants, we’ve got a pretty good process. What we’re doing

now is looking at them very carefully and also, I’m bringing in a law enforcement ad-viser to report directly to me. Are those law enforcement grants doing what they need to do? I’m reaching out to different orga-nizations, I’m going out to meet with them, ICP [incident command post], state emer-gency managers, local emergency manag-ers … are the grants accomplishing what they need to accomplish? If they’re not, we’re going to change that grant process as we move along and make sure they’re doing what they need to do.

Q: Do you feel a need to re-engage with

state and local governments to recover

some of the confi dence that may have

been lost in recent years?

A: No question about it. We have got to rebuild the confi dence of this organization. I’ve got to earn the trust of the state and local government centers and the trust of the American people, and I can only do that by proving how we’re going to respond. Saying it over and over again is not going to make it happen. We are going

kDavid Paulison was appointed by President George W. Bush, and reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. As director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Paulison may be called upon by the president to serve as a member of the Cabinet in the event of natural disasters, acts of terrorism or other man-made disasters.

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28

to have to … the proof ’s in the pudding, so to speak. And that’s what I’m going to do.

Q: How can state and local governments

participate in the evolution of FEMA?

What can they do?

A: Th ey participate in a couple of ways. One, we have the national response framework out there. I need those comments in — is that framework what it needs to be, does it accom-plish what they think it needs to do? We need to get the feedback on that.

Two, we have our national advisory council, we have a regional advisory council out there, we have a lot of people surveying there — those are going to help me get the right input that I’m going to need.

Th e third piece of it is making sure that I’m in the fi eld and not sitting behind a desk in Wash-ington — that I meet with those state and local governments, national emergency managers, local emergency managers, chase the police, the sher-iff ’s association — so I can get that very honest feedback of how we’re doing.

Q: Can you explain what the gap analysis

program is?

A: Th e local emergency manager in New York City [Offi ce of Emergency Management Com-

missioner Joseph Bruno] had put together a huge document. We worked together with them to develop what we call a “gap analysis.” Looking at a state, looking to those things like evacuation procedures, sheltering, food, water — the whole emergency management system — and identifying gaps, and we did every state from Texas to Maine. It’s not perfect yet, but it surely gave us a clear insight on what each state needs if they have a disaster.

Every state’s needs are diff erent; one size does not fi t all. It doesn’t make sense for us to move in teams to help with evacuations in Florida, because they know how to do that. North Car-olina may need something diff erent. So the pro-gram was very successful, very well received by the states. States like California have more of an earthquake problem than they would a hurri-cane problem, so we need to tailor our response to the particular needs of the individual states.

Q: You also mentioned engaging in

partnerships. Talk about that a little bit.

A: Th e private sector has a lot of expertise out there. Don’t forget the private sector owns about 80 percent of our critical infrastructures, and we, in the past, have not included them in our planning process, we have not included them in our exercises, and surely haven’t included them in our response capability. We need to do that. So that’s why we’re reaching out to them, having them bring their expertise and their organiza-tion, us learning what their needs are, they’re learning what our capabilities are. Again, bring-ing all these groups in as partners in response to disasters. If we can do that, we can make this happen, and we’re going to have a much better response than we’ve ever seen in this country.

Q: How can state and local governments be

involved in that?

A: Th ey have to do the same thing I’m doing. Take a particular city, they’ve got to make sure they look at their critical infrastructures, who owns them, how they can bring them into the planning process to protect those infrastruc-tures, and how they can get that city up and running again.

Business plays a big part in that. One of the things I learned aft er Hurricane Andrew — it was very clear to me that if the businesses don’t come back, the community is not going to come back. So they have to be brought in as partners. k

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To watch a GTtv report on R. David Paulison’s visit to the National Emergency Preparedness Conference in Sacramento, Calif., visit www.govtech.com.






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30

EarlyBy Jim McKay

WarningEarlyEarly

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“h—

On Jan. 15, 2007, the Chevron oil refi nery in Contra Costa County, Calif., caught fi re, emit-ting threatening plumes of smoke. Sirens blared

as they were supposed to, but the telephone notifi cation system failed miserably.

It took half an hour for Chevron to provide wind direction information to the county — information the county needed to decide which residents to warn.

Once the county had wind direction, a computer glitch caused another 30 minutes to elapse before the warning calls were sent out. Th e event is one of 51 major incidents in the last 15 years involving refi neries or chemical plants in which the notifi cation system failed in some way.

Since then, the county’s contract with its former vendor ran out, and in April, it deployed a new system by Honeywell International.

Th is new system has performed well in limited duty on about four police calls, including a missing person’s report, a gas leak and a grass fi re. Th e notifi cations went out to more than 20,000 residents without a problem.


The key component to an emergency telephone system is functionality.

Early

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“We haven’t activated the system through the refi neries, but we’ve done it for several police incidents, and it’s worked fl awlessly,” said Lt. Jeff Hebel of the Contra Costa County Offi ce of the Sheriff .

Having a functional emergency telephone system that notifi es residents during a potential crisis is a vital part of an eff ective emergency warning system.

Key Diff erencesSeveral key diff erences separate the

new Honeywell system from the previous one. Chief among them, according to Art Botterell, Community Warning System man-ager for the Contra Costa Sheriff ’s Offi ce: “It works.”

Th e new system lets the county notify resi-dents of a potential hazard by disseminating a computer-generated phone message to thou-sands of numbers accessed from the 911 database. Th e previous system needed a taped

voice message, the creation of which wasted time. Th e new system, however, translates a text message into a voice message.

Legally the notifi cation begins when the county activates the system, but the refi neries push the button fi rst and notify the county. From there, the county fi lls out one of several templates to craft a message that will ring phone numbers in the aff ected area.

Templates include a general-purpose warn-ing; one for hazardous materials incidents, which has more details about closing windows, fi lling gaps in doors with towels, turning off fans, etc.; one for evacuation; one to be on the lookout for a suspect on the loose; and an “all clear” message.

County officials bring up a map of the aff ected area on a computer screen and draw a polygon around the target area. Th e system queries the 911 database, calls up the phone numbers of all residences in the target area and sends the message.

It takes about 85 seconds for the new sys-tem to send the calls and receive feedback on whether the call reached its destination. Th at’s

a big diff erence from the previous system, where feedback was delayed by hours, making it useless.

“At that point [when the calls are made], we’ve got multiple servers generating a lot of phone calls, and then — and this is where it gets dynamic — you have to try to determine how many calls the local tele-phone network can absorb on this day in this area,” Botterell said. “And that number is highly variable.”

Th at’s where the feedback comes into play. Th e feedback reports on which areas can ab-

sorb the phone calls, and which returned busy signals and need to be re-sent.

“Right now, we’re at about 85 seconds, and we’re trying to get that down below a minute,” Botterell said, adding that the feedback starts coming back seconds aft er the notifi cations be-gin going out, which allows offi cials to resend calls that didn’t go through.

“Mostly [the old system] lacked any ability to get the call detail back in real time,” Botterell said. “We would get a report back in a couple of hours, but there was really nothing we could do with that information at that point. It wasn’t a feedback loop; it was just sort of an aft er-action report.”

Multiple MessagesThe telephone system is really a sub-

system within the community warning sys-tem that includes sirens, the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the weather service radio alerts, cable TV alerts and AM radio broadcasts. Any one by itself is not enough,

and each is an important part of the larger warning system.

“If you look at the social science research that’s been done on how people process warn-ings, you come to one of these conclusions that’s utterly obvious and common sense once science proves it,” Botterell said, “and that is that people hardly ever act on a single warning message. Everyone has experienced false alarms, and no-body wants to look a fool.”

When people get the same warning mes-sages multiple times from say, the radio, the TV and a telephone call, they begin to take the warnings seriously, Botterell said. Th e new telephone system is part of an overall new notifi cation system that is a combination of pieces to be deployed simultaneously.

“It’s all driven through our common alerting protocol — CAP — which is a beta standard that allows us to build kind of a warning Internet so the telephone notifi cation system becomes one particular peripheral of the network,” Botterell said. “Th e telephone system was the one piece of technology that hadn’t been fully integrated into the larger warning system.”

Th e main diff erence between the new system and the old one is that it’s activated by a Web service interface between Honeywell’s computers and the county’s.

“Our computers talk to their computers on a very sophisticated level, and pass statistics and all sorts of information back and forth,” Bot-terell said. “And that made it easy to integrate the system into the overall common alerting protocol-based control system we’re building.”

It’s early, and the real tests will come when a refi nery sounds a warning, but county offi cials are confi dent the system is rounding into shape.

“Th ere is a level of integration and sophistica-tion that we just haven’t had,” Botterell said. “And did I mention it works? Reliability is huge.” k

Contra Costa County, Calif.’s Mount Diablo and portions of Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek.

PHOT

O BY

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NAR

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“People hardly ever act on a single warning message. Everyone has experienced false alarms, and nobody wants to look a fool.” — Art Botterell, community warning system manager, Contra Costa County, Calif.

32

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OFFICIALS SAY OUR AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM IS AN EASY TARGET FOR TERRORISM, SO WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

B Y J E S S I C A J O N E S

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SILENTON APRIL 25, SKIN-BURNING WATER flowed from the tap in Spencer, Mass., sending 100 people to the hospital and forcing everyone else to avoid their faucets and hoses.

One week after the incident, investigators discovered that two city workers accidentally released an excessive amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, into the water system after they forgot to switch the feed system from manual to automatic.

Thirty-four gallons of sodium hydroxide entered the city’s water supply over a 12.5-hour period, from the night of April 24 and into the morning of April 25.

In addition, an alarm system for alerting offsite work-ers to the situation wasn’t working properly, and no one was in the building to hear onsite alarms.

Though not an agroterrorism incident, the event shows how easy an attack on the water supply could be, said Robert Finch, emergency preparedness coordinator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency in Kentucky.

“Because you’ve got municipal and public water sys-tems all across the nation, that would demonstrate that it’s pretty easy to cause damage,” he said, “whether it is intentional or accidental.”

ATTACK






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Agroterrorism is an intentional criminal act perpetrated on some segment of the agriculture industry or the food system, intended to infl ict harm — whether it be a public-health crisis or economic disruption.

“It has an eff ect, a very heavy eff ect, on the emotional well-being of people because they take their food as sort of for granted,” said Jerry Gillespie, former director and principal inves-tigator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at the University of California at Davis. “So an attack on either agriculture or the food system has all of those potentialities.”

Because food from a single source tends to be distributed widely, Gillespie added, contami-nation at one processing plant can have wide-spread implications.

“We’ve learned that, for example, with the spinach outbreak in Salinas County, it aff ected more than 18 states,” he said. “So in a very quick order, we can have widespread contaminated product.”

Easy Target?Agriculture in the United States is particu-

larly vulnerable to potential terrorist activities because it’s a very open system, particularly at the farm level, but also in most processing plants, Gillespie said.

“Th ey vary in their security certainly, but it would not be diffi cult to fi nd access to a pro-cessing plant,” he said. “Th ere’s a huge turnover in a labor force — it’s quite easy for some-one who wanted to do this to fi nd a way into a processing plant or any segment of a food

system. On the retail end, clearly our open mar-kets, farmers’ markets and the retail outlets are wide open.”

But Brenda Halbrook, director of the Food Safety Unit within the USDA’s Food & Nutri-tion Service, contended that such attacks are growing more diffi cult. She said a lot of work has been done to close security gaps.

“We have been working since early 2005 to develop our awareness program, and the spinoff from that has been now we’re developing tabletop exercises,” Halbrook said. “We take a previous scenario and play it out with all of

the people who would be the principals if there were to be a real attack. Th at’s another means of trying to lock down any kinds of gaps we might have in this system so everybody’s very aware, everyone’s practiced, they’ve written their food defense programs and their plans, and then they’ve drilled it.”

Even without exercises and plans in place, Finch said farmers have their own more basic methods of preventing such an act.

“Farmers have a very good nonscientifi c, or non-Internet, network of knowing what’s going on, knowing if something strange is happening and if there’s someone in the area who you don’t recognize,” he said. “Th ey know what’s going on in their area. Th ey know if something’s strange or someone is seen around an area who’s not supposed to be there, and are pretty quick to pick up and call whoever’s farm it is.”

Another concern, according to Howard van Dijk, emergency preparedness coordinator of Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension

Service, is the spread of contagious diseases that could threaten food safety or cripple agri-cultural production.

“Foot-and-mouth disease — that’s the big one that really has us worried because that would hit cattle of all sorts, and other kinds of hoofed animals,” he said. “It’s highly contagious, and it would be very diffi cult to manage, to control, to get on top of.”

Because foot-and-mouth disease is a pan-demic in certain parts of the world, van Dijk said, all someone would have to do is bring a sample into the U.S. and release it in farms.

In 2002, Tom McGinn, assistant state veteri-narian for North Carolina at the time, showed a computer simulation of what would happen if foot-and-mouth disease were deliberately and simultaneously released in fi ve diff erent sites across the country — within two weeks, the disease would have spread to 44 states and destroyed 48.5 million animals.

Also in 2001, McGinn said the United States collected intelligence data in Afghanistan that al Qaeda operatives explored ways of damaging the U.S. food supply.

“Th ere were plans ongoing within those folks about seeing where agriculture of the U.S. was vulnerable,” van Dijk said. “Th ey had infor-mation there that was wide-open material. It would be knowledge that wouldn’t be that hard to acquire.”

Taking ResponsibilityKnowing this, van Dijk urged farmers and

ranchers to take action.






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38

“Install gates to your facility, put up those signs, restricting gates, know who’s visiting your farm, be observant, see if there are people you don’t know or strange folks coming by asking questions that don’t really apply to day-to-day activities,” van Dijk said. “Try to upgrade security for everybody — that goes for the whole process, up and down the whole food chain from the producer to the grocery store. Th e whole system needs to have tightened security everywhere.”

Government agencies also must do their part to safeguard food production, Gillespie said.

“Certainly industry has to have a major role because they control [more than] 90 percent of the resources that go into our food systems,” he added, “but they can’t really do that without support from local, state and federal govern-ment agencies. Most certainly that’s true as we begin to have a more global food supply. Now it’s imperative that our federal, state and local agencies step up and try to improve security for the imported foods and food products.”

Finch said he believes it’s ultimately agri-culture’s responsibility to work closely with the state commissioners of agriculture or their counterparts across the nation.

But Jason Moats, program coordinator for the Fire Protection Training Division at Texas A&M’s Extension Service, disagreed. Moats, who wrote Agroterrorism: A Guide for First Responders, said an agroterrorism event almost immediately becomes a national-level event.

“It’s not accurate to say that it’s a farmer or rancher issue. It’s going to involve everyone in the community, from the local elected offi cial, to the state veterinarian, to the animal, plant

and health inspection service to deal with this,” he said. “It’s a national-level emergency. Th at’s on the grandest scale.”

If, for example, foot-and-mouth disease were introduced into the agriculture system, the disease would aff ect cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and other animals. International markets would quickly stop receiving food products from the entire U.S., said Moats, because blocking ship-ments on a regional basis would be diffi cult.

“Th e problem is, we have such a highly mobile animal population here in the U.S. that that may not be reasonable,” he said. “So the minimum that the markets are going to shut down is going to be several months, if not several years.

“We’re talking a long-term event that may be longer, truthfully, than the recovery is or the immediate recovery was, for the World Trade Center,” Moats added.

Practicing PreventionUnfortunately vulnerabilities in the agricul-

ture system typically are detected only when people fall ill, Gillespie said.

“Th ere are some new technologies beginning to emerge that may help, but the economy of them is pretty diffi cult — whether producers and even consumers are willing to pay this extra cost is the question,” he added. “Probably the most eff ective way for us to have early detection of mischief or something going wrong is in fact the employees who work very directly with the food system. Again, that’s a challenge because there’s such a turnover in that particular sector of our economy.”

In South Carolina, Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension Service helps educate farm producers and the public about potential agroterrorism activities.

“We’re trying to help coordinate and organize County Agricultural Response Teams (CARTs),” van Dijk said. “In this case, CARTs are commit-tees of people in the industry, producers, agency people, county emergency manager, law enforce-ment, fi re rescue folks, animal control people. We help organize these committees who then can, on a local level, identify issues that might be for their county, their location.”

Th e county CART falls under the county emergency manager’s authority, he said, and considers where the issues are in the county, and helps to educate and manage if an inci-dent takes place. CARTs, van Dijk added, aid in actual response, along with police, fi re and emergency management services.

“We have the local knowledge of agricul-ture, have contact with local producers and know what livestock industries are in the local area, so we know what’s involved,” he said. “Th en we also become members of the county response team to help contain what-ever incident might happen.”

One thing to keep in mind, van Dijk said, is to look at agroterrorism under the all-hazards umbrella.

“At the same time we’re considering agro-terrorism, being able to respond also helps in being able to respond to a hurricane disaster, fl ood — you name it,” he said. “Being aware, knowledgeable, educated and able to respond helps all of those things.” k

Responding to an agroterrorism attack on livestock will involve more than farmers and ranchers. Such an incident also will demand a signifi cant number of veterinarians — and the United States may not have enough of them, according to Jason Moats, author of Agroterrorism: A Guide for First Responders.

“We’re working at capacity with the veterinarian core that we have in the United States, right now,” he said. “If we put in a massive animal help event, there’s no surge capacity.”

Key Player






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40

Wave Same On the

B Y J I M M c K A Y

IT’S A COMMON STORY: An incident occurs requiring emergency personnel from diff erent agencies or jurisdictions to respond. Once on the scene, diffi culties arise because disparate radio equipment makes it hard for those agen-cies to communicate.

In recent years, Hendricks County, Ind., had such an incident. Fire personnel couldn’t communicate once on the scene — prompting intense discussion, and now action, in the form of a new radio system and the consolidation of four dispatch centers into one.

“Th at was one of the things that helped kick this off ,” said Larry Brinker, executive director of the new Hendricks County Communica-tions Center, which resulted aft er negotiations and consultations with police, fi re, emergency medical services (EMS) and public works. “We had a fi re, and four diff erent agencies showed up with four diff erent radios. As they were fi ghting the fi re, we had to go around and [give] extra radios to everyone so they could communicate. Now they all have the same capabilities on the same channel.”

About three years ago — aft er this incident — Hendricks County commissioners agreed that improving 911 communications was criti-cal, and blessed the spending of a 911-surcharge fund on new communications technology.

Funding Dilemma Knowing this funding was available had po-

lice, fi re, EMS and public works dreaming of shiny new facilities, and spiff y new technology and capabilities — and the original plan sought to make it all happen by outfi tting all four dis-patch centers with such things.

Offi cials knew what kinds of new technolo-gies they wanted in the centers, but found that the $7.5 million generated by a $1 monthly surcharge for 911 emergency services — which was added to every phone line since 1995 — and some federal grant money wouldn’t suffi ce for the four centers. Equipping all four centers with the technology they envisioned would cost $12 million.

“Everybody wanted to keep their own dispatch centers, but they wanted all the

technology options they could possibly have,” Brinker said.

“Th e original plan we put together, which was going to outfi t all four dispatch centers with about three-quarters of the capabilities, was going to cost about $12 million,” Brinker said. “We pared it to where we’d operate two centers, and that got us down to $8.5 mil-lion at about 75 percent of the technology. When we brought it down to one location, that freed up enough of the savings that we were able to get 100 percent of the technol-ogy we wanted, and do it at the cost we had to work with.”

Th e result is a new communications center with state-of-the-art equipment that dispatchesfor police, fire and emergency medical in Hendricks, Avon, Brownsburg, Danville and Plainfi eld counties.

“In the past, a 911 call might get transferred two or three times before it got to the right place,” Brinker said. “Now, all 911 calls come to one location, and the call-taker enters the information into the computer.”

Hendricks County, Ind., consolidates police, fi re and EMS 911 dispatching.

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length41Emergency Management

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Having all the dispatchers in one building meant a couple of things. One, fewer dispatcherswould be needed; and two, personnel would be used more effi ciently. Th e county employed 38 call-takers, down from 49 prior to the consoli-dation. Th e center includes 13 workstations for dispatchers, and each station has six fl at video screens that display information about incom-ing calls.

When there were four centers, each needed to be staff ed with two or three call-takers. If there was an emergency in one area, the call-takers in one of the centers were overwhelmed while the call-takers in the other centers weren’t busy. “Now we have eight to 11 people sched-uled on duty to handle multiple emergencies throughout the county,” Brinker said.

Th e goal was to get down to the 38 dispatchers through retirement and attrition, and that’s exactly how it happened, Brinker said. “No one was fi red.”

One Radio SystemAnother piece of the consolidation is a

common radio system and equipment among police, fi re and EMS — a far cry from the days when diff erent departments would show up with diff erent radio equipment.

All 250 emergency vehicles in Hen-dricks County, including police cars, fire trucks and ambulances, are equipped with a laptop or other digital device, as well as a radio. Prior to the consolidation, there were essentially three different radio systems throughout the state, including a local 800 MHz system and a state 800 MHz system. Unfortunately one was analog and one was digital. “The bad news was that even though

[both] were 800, they still couldn’t talk to each other,” Brinker said.

Now the county’s system is digital and allows radio communications like never before, as everyone has the same equipment, even the SWAT teams, Brinker said. “Th e SWAT teams usually travel with other agencies. Th ey now have the exact same equipment, the same capa-bilities, and that makes a big diff erence.”

If there’s a nonemergency call to the police, it’s transferred straight to the squad car nearest the incident, as each car will soon be equipped with a GPS device. Th e police unit will then respond by voice, over the radio or by pressingan “en-route” button on the computer. All 250 emergency vehicles will be equipped with a GPS device so that dispatchers can see the exact location of every vehicle. Dispatchers can also call up three-dimensional aerial photos of a house or business to alert fi rst responders of the locations of doors, windows and other features of the structure.

Local police personnel can communicate directly with dispatch and with every other unit. “All of law enforcement is working on one talk group and everybody can hear what the other departments are doing,” Brinker said. “Th e way we do that is we only broadcast the emergency dispatches over the radio be-cause the rest of it is done over a mobile data terminal in the cars.”

Sheriff Dave Galloway expects some of the kinks to be worked out of the system when the GPS devices are in place and everyone be-comes familiar with multiple agencies. “I’m the sheriff of the county, and I’m not notifi ed on some major events that take place in a timely manner,” he said. “It’s minor stuff really, getting coordinated on record services, jurisdictions and things like that. We have new people work-ing together in the dispatch center. It’s a new system and they’re learning and sometimes they don’t know who’s been notifi ed, who hasn’t been notifi ed and who needs to be noti-fi ed. And we don’t have GPS operational yet.

Right now we have offi cers being sent from too far away.”

Eye on IndianaTh at functionality makes Hendricks County

unique in the state, and other regions are watch-ing to see how the system will work. “Th at’s not even very common among individual cities,” Brinker said. “Larger cities will create a north district and a south district where they’ll have the capability of switching channels to talk, but they’re not always on that one channel.”

An example of the new system’s value was evident recently when an armed robbery was broadcast over the 800 MHz radio system in Plainfi eld. Two offi cers from the city of Avon happened to be driving through Plainfi eld and heard the radio call. Th ey arrived on the scene within seconds and set up a perimeter before Plainfi eld offi cers arrived. Once on the scene, all units were able to communicate via the radio system. With the old system in place, those Avon offi cers would never have known about the robbery and would have driven right through town.

Th e county purchased 500 portable radios, an additional radio tower, Motorola MOSCAD fi rehouse and weather alerting systems, and equipped all police cars with Motorola ML 900 laptops.

“With the fi rehouse alerting, each time a fi re run comes out, it will set off the tones at the fi rehouse, and it has the capabilities of opening the garage doors, can turn on and off lights in certain areas of the fi rehouse and also turns on the speakers in the fi rehouse, so they can hear the call throughout the building,” Brinker explained.

“It was time we in Hendricks County had the ability to talk to each other,” Galloway said. “Th e public will be better served with this system. Th e ability to communicate is of vital importance to public safety, and I’m in favor of one system so that police, fi re and EMS can communicate. Th is is going to be positive for the citizens of Hendricks County.” k

By consolidating four 911 dispatch centers into one, Hendricks County could afford all of the technology it wanted.

The new dispatch center includes 13 workstations for dispatchers, and each station has six fl at video screens that display information about incoming calls.

42

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44

B Y D A V I D R A T H S

in aUnacceptable response to a

Valentine’s Day snowstorm in Pennsylvania

prompts an emergency

management investigation.

MIX OF ICE AND SNOW on Feb. 14, 2007, caused accidents

that blocked more than 150 miles on three interstate highways in

central Pennsylvania, stranding hundreds of truckers and motorists for more than 20 hours.

State police and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) employees were overwhelmed, and the gravity of the situation wasn’t relayed to the State Emergency Opera-tions Center quickly enough. In fact, the state police commissioner only heard about the situa-tion from a Cabinet member stranded in his car. Th e Pennsylvania National Guard eventually was activated to provide food, water, blankets and gas to motorists.

Aft er the storm, the Pennsylvania Senate set up a Web site so travelers could describe their experiences. Th e site collected more than 1,300 pages of comments from angry, frustrated peo-ple stuck in the storm. Most talked of being out on the highway all night, and the absence of state police and PennDOT offi cials.

At a Feb. 16, 2007, press conference in Phila-delphia, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell was forced to off er the blunt assessment that the state’s emergency management response to the Valentine’s Day snowstorm had been “totally un-acceptable.”

Rendell apologized for a “total breakdown in communications” among state agencies. He ordered an independent investigation by James

Lee Witt Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based fi rm — headed by James Lee Witt, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — specializing in emergency management.

Th e Witt Associates investigation and the Rendell administration’s response to its rec-ommendations provide a highly detailed view of the communications shortcomings of the state’s emergency management infrastructure. Despite the pain the disaster caused, it could provide the impetus for real improvement in the Keystone State’s emergency management response capability.

Joe Martz, the state’s secretary of administra-tion and Rendell’s point man on the issue, said one key to the turnaround would be improving

A

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communications among agencies. “When we are in the emergency operations center together, the communication works well,” he said. “It’s when we are all in our own agency silos that it doesn’t fl ow as well.”

Finding FailuresTh e structural problems that became obvious

in the storm’s wake didn’t appear overnight, said Charlie Fisher, Witt’s project manager of the Pennsylvania storm report. “Long before the event itself, actions or inactions by state agen-cies laid the groundwork for the problem,” he noted. “Th en in the response, there were a lot of communication issues, with inaccurate infor-mation being relayed.”

For instance, communication from regional PennDOT offi cials to state headquarters was inadequate. One explanation is that many of the PennDOT offi cials responsible were dealing with their fi rst major storm. In Berks County, for example, the entire PennDOT management team was new, following the former team’s retirement in January.

Th ere were failures in technology and cus-tomer service, the report noted. For instance, the state’s Road Weather Information System hadn’t been maintained. Designed to improve awareness of road conditions, the sensor system had fewer than 20 of 74 sensor sites operational statewide when the storm hit. Many had been down since the previous summer. In diff erent

levels of the organization, people were aware that the sensors weren’t working, Fisher noted, but PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler didn’t know it.

Fisher also said customer information systems weren’t given a high enough priority. Some elec-tronic highway signs weren’t working or updated during the event. Th e messages on highway phone information lines weren’t updated, and the Web site provided outdated information. “Th ere is an overall attitude problem about customer service and communications,” Fisher said.

Th e Witt report asserted that state police han-dled individual accident scenes well, but there was no overall incident command at the regional or state level. Th e agency lacked situational






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46

awareness because information about what was happening didn’t fl ow well — either vertically or horizontally — throughout the organization.

Th e report levels some criticism at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) for not elevating the State Emergency Operations Center’s activation level to Level 3 soon enough. Its policy of waiting to receive calls for assistance before raising the level is a

problem, Fisher explained, because only Level 3 requires agency liaisons with information about their employees’ needs to come in to the operations center.

Th e storm response pointed out weaknesses in the state’s work to implement the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System (NIMS). “Th ey had done some training in NIMS, but it really wasn’t being adopted,” Fisher stressed. “Th ey weren’t living it.”

Fisher said some executives interviewed didn’t know the four levels of emergency acti-vation and weren’t sure if they’d be contacted in an emergency. Others weren’t clear on the division of responsibilities between PEMA and their agencies during an emergency.

Witt recommended that throughout the state, there must be much more planning in terms of emergency management processes. “Th e senior managers of PennDOT don’t know their peers at the state police or PEMA,” Fisher said. “Th ey have to know each other

and work on planning together. You don’t want to meet your fi re chief when your build-ing is burning down.”

Fixing the ProblemsWith the negative publicity immediately

following the storm, state offi cials could have become discouraged and defensive. But Martz said Rendell and other state offi cials are determined to fi x the systemic prob-lems highlighted by the Witt report released in late March. “Th e governor accepted the report’s fi ndings,” Martz said, “and with that acceptance comes the commitment to follow through on its recommendations.”

Rendell followed the Witt team’s sugges-tions for improvements, and gave agency heads deadlines to implement changes or report timelines for project completion.

Among the changes under way:Snowplow staffi ng: Responding to the shortage of snowplow drivers experi-enced during the storm, Martz said the

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This NASA image shows Pennsylvania and the New England states after the storm.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA

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state met a July 1 deadline to ensure ade-quate permanent and temporary staffi ng. Establish a management continuity plan: Th e retirement of key PennDOT personnel right before the storm should have been a red fl ag to the central admin-istration to give more counseling and help, Martz said.Fix roadway weather information system: Th e state now has 79 real-time sensor sites in operation. PennDOT is also coming up with a list of new technol-ogies that might complement or replace the 10-year-old sensor technology. Develop customer information plan: A plan to improve customer service wasn’t in place by late May, but Martz said a work group has been created to develop it. One possibility is a 511 number the public could use to obtain relevant storm information. Create a protocol for closing interstates and other state highways: Because they are such important routes to truckers,

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the state’s interstates have rarely closed, Martz said. Nevertheless the state needed to develop a well documented protocol. PennDOT and PEMA worked together to create the protocol.Update state emergency operations plan:Martz called this a huge project but said PEMA has a road map for updating it.Implement NIMS in its totality: Th e Witt report found the state technically compliant with NIMS. “But it was mostly in word and not in deed,” Martz said. “We are asking PEMA what is necessary to make NIMS part of the everyday culture, so that it is practiced every single day.”Develop state police notifi cation protocols: Th e state police is writing protocols to formalize the process of transmitting information vertically and horizontally in the agency.

It may take another emergency or this win-ter’s storm season before the public can gauge whether the state’s emergency management

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communications framework has improved. But Martz plans to fi le several follow-up progress reports to the governor and make those reports available to the Legislature. Th e state may hold hearings to ensure that these changes have been made.

Martz admits that reports following previ-ous emergencies had highlighted many of the same issues that hampered the state’s response to the Valentine’s Day storm.

When a problem was identifi ed in those reports, it was handled by telling the relevant department to fi x the problem, he said.

“Instead, we should have put a team together to see what resources they needed to make it happen and ensure it was fi xed,” Martz said. “Th at type of follow-through was the missing piece, and that’s what we’re doing now.” k

The Power of Boundless Collaboration.

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Most attention and much of the resources for all-hazards preparedness and response have been focused on urban

areas. Enter the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC), which was developed to ensure that rural fi rst responders have a continuous resource for their training and preparedness needs. Its goal is also to ensure that rural fi rst responders are up to speed on timely and relevant training and response information, as well as best practices.

Now this consortium is preparing a series of Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-cer-tifi ed training courses for rural stakeholders to be off ered at no charge across the nation.

“Our country is still in a mode of concen-trating training resources toward potential large-scale events that might occur in ur-ban areas,” said Gary Wingrove, chair of the advisory board to the RDPC and manager of Government Relations and Strategic Aff airs for the Mayo Clinic Medical Transport in Buf-falo, Minn. “Th e consortium is concentrating

on creating curricula centered around the support role of rural responders to urban events, as well as an all-hazards approach more suited to rural communities for the more typi-cal types of events we might be called upon to manage directly.”

Eastern Kentucky University’s (EKU’s) Justice and Safety Center leads the consortium, and partners include East Tennessee State University, Iowa Central Community College, Northwest Arkansas Community College and the Univer-sity of Findlay in Ohio.

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Domestic preparedness consortium boosts training for rural fi rst responders.

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Th e DHS/Federal Emergency Management Agency Training and Education Division awarded the consortium and a Rural Domes-tic Preparedness Training Center at EKU with $14.1 million since fi scal 2004, and EKU applied for an additional $12 million in grants.

Th e consortium’s fi rst order of business was to identify gaps in training for rural homeland security. Each consortium partner conducted a regional forum, the RDPC mailed out a national needs assessment survey, and in September 2007, the consortium convened a National Rural Emergency Preparedness Summit in Omaha, Neb.

Jo Brosius, director of communications at EKU’s Justice and Safety Center, said several pilot training courses are scheduled to begin before the end of 2007. Th ey include Special Event Security Planning for Law Enforcement, developed by the Rural Domestic Preparedness Training Center; Freight Rail Car Incident Response; and Port and Vessel Security for Public Safety Personnel, both developed by the University of Findlay.

“We all feel that we are addressing a gap in a national need,” said Mark Alliman, RDPC program manager for the University of Findlay. “As we start rolling these courses out, it will be a lot more evident that we are addressing those gaps and training needs.”

Training NeedsTh e RDPC sent out nearly 3,200 surveys about

all-hazards homeland security training needs in summer 2006, and almost 1,000 completed sur-veys were returned by rural offi cials in the fi elds of law enforcement, fi re, emergency medical services, public health and general local government.

Planning for terrorism events was identifi ed as the primary training need across all stakeholder groups. However, each group had diff erent priorities. Th e highest-rated training need for each group was:

Law enforcement — responder safety and health.Fire service — citizen preparedness and participation.Emergency medical service — chemical,

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Top training needs in rural stakeholder groups according to the number of personnel in need of training:

Law Enforcement 1. Responder safety and health 2. Information gathering and threat recognition 3. Isolation and quarantine 4. Intelligence information sharing and dissemination 5. WMD/hazardous materials response and decontamination

Fire Service 1. Citizen preparedness and participation 2. WMD/hazardous materials response and decontamination 3. Planning for terrorism events 4. Responder safety and health 5. Interoperable emergency communications

Emergency Medical Services 1. CBRNE detection 2. WMD/hazardous materials response and decontamination 3. Interoperable emergency communications 4. Responder safety and health 5. Planning for terrorism events

Public Health 1. Planning for terrorism events 2. Responder safety and health 3. Isolation and quarantine 4. Medical surge 5. Emergency public information and warning

Government Offi cials 1. WMD/hazardous materials response and decontamination 2. Citizen preparedness and participation 3. Planning for terrorism events 4. Volunteer management and donations 5. Responder safety and health

Source: Assessing the Needs of Rural Emergency Responders: National Training Needs Assessment 2006

RURAL REQUIREMENTS

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biological, radiological, nuclear, explosives (CBRNE) detection.Public health — planning for terrorism events.General government — weapons of mass destruction/hazardous materials response and decontamination.

It was no surprise that every discipline has signifi cant unmet training needs, Brosius said. “If there were any surprises, it would be that each discipline identifi ed a diff erent area as its top priority in terms of the number of personnel needing training,” he said

Th e survey results showed that the gen-eral government sector has the greatest need for training among all the groups. Th e RDPC notes that government offi cials are not oft en considered fi rst responders: “But oft entimes it is the local mayor, county judge/executive, or city manager who is one of the fi rst offi cials to address the media and the general public.” Th ey are also oft en the primary contacts for state and federal assistance.

Th e RDPC plans to follow up with a more detailed survey of general government offi -cials’ needs, work with national associations representing this group, and explore adapting existing training curriculum to the needs of general government offi cials.

Th e consortium reports that rural fi rst responders prefer local, hands-on training, although they are generally willing to participate in online and video-conference training sessions.

Th e RDPC plans to make the National Rural Emergency Preparedness Summit an annual event, to be held in rural communities across the country. Participants in the fi rst summit identifi ed and prioritized 15 critical areas for the RDPC to focus on. Th e recommendations include evacuation and quarantine, agroterror-ism, interoperable communications, surviving the fi rst 48 hours, and post-incident responder and family care.

“Training is something you should do contin-uously, but it’s diffi cult, especially when you look at volunteers,” Alliman said. “And that’s just a fact of rural America. We need to let folks like that know that RDPC is there, and we have listened to them, and we’re putting good training programs together to help address their needs.” k

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52

The Ultimate TestBY W ILLI A M EGGE R S A N D M E R RILL DOU GL A S

A public executive’s leadership in a disaster may well become his or her legacy, such as for New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani following 9/11, the aftermath of which is depicted on this page.PHOTOS BY ANDREA BOOHER/FEMA






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Soon aft er Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, Th e Washington Post threw a spot-light on three individuals who would never see the storm fade away. For Louisiana Gov. Kathleen

Blanco, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and to a lesser extent, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Katrina “will defi ne and dominate their public lives for the duration of their time in offi ce,” said a Post reporter on Sept. 1, 2005.

A public executive’s leadership in a disaster could well become his or her most important legacy. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s performance in the days aft er 9/11 — his strong management, eff ective coordination of emergency response, and frequent radio and TV appearances — made him a national fi gure. Some believe it could one day make him president.

Similarly a governor’s performance in an emergency — and what that performance says about his or her ability to manage — may well shape that governor’s future career.

Th e list of emergencies for which states need to prepare is daunting in size and variety. While not every hurricane makes landfall in the United States, state and local offi cials in storm-prone regions must prepare as though each of them will. In some parts of the United States, tornadoes oft en threaten property and lives. Wildfi res also tax the resources of emergency responders year aft er year.

Along with disasters that recur many times in a season, governors must prepare for the kinds of events that, although rare, exact terrible costs, such as fl oods.

A governor who excels in emergency planning and response has mastered fi ve key areas: net-work activation, coordination and management; information sharing; logistics; risk management; and governance and leadership.

Activation, Coordination, ManagementEmergency management and response is, fi rst

and foremost, about integrating disparate organi-zations — the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), fi rst responders, local govern-ments, Red Cross, nonprofi ts, private companies — into functioning networks that share infor-mation, coordinate activities and synchronize responses to prepare for widespread emergencies and respond to them when they occur.

However, without augmenting the Incident Command System — an element of the National Response Plan — with eff ective network coor-dination and management, the response to any emergency will likely be untimely or ineff ective. Organizations duplicate eff orts, while other vital needs fall through the cracks. Lack of knowledge of assigned roles in the network prevents these organizations from performing their duties. Lack of coordination means aff ected areas wait days for FEMA to deliver various goods and services, while FEMA offi cials wait for aff ected states to issue formal requests. Lack of interop-

erable database systems means organizations can’t eff ectively track requests for assistance. In short, the lack of a networked approach typi-cally means a slow, uncoordinated, overly rigid, procedure-bound response.

Th e most important principle to ensuring an integrated, networked response is that state government’s role isn’t necessarily to stand in the center, shoulder the main burden, and call upon partners to supplement its eff orts here and there. Instead, state government’s role is to coordinate a network of networks.

Public offi cials must identify eff ective emer-gency response networks that already exist, allow each of them to do the work they do best and encourage these groups to multiply their power by working together.

State governments can also identify needs unmet by any existing organization and devise ways to fi ll those gaps. Th e networked model of emergency response augments the com-mand-and-control model the United States has traditionally employed to manage disasters. Th e question for a governor should be: How do I bring together the resources necessary to execute our shared mission as well as possible?

Th e fi rst key step in developing a networked emergency management response is convening and activating the network. A government can assemble parties whose intense yet narrow knowledge will provoke valuable insights when deployed in conjunction with others. Oft en nonprofi t organizations are so overwhelmed

A governor’s performance during a disaster speaks to his or her abilities as an overall leader and manager.

PHOTO BY GREG HENSHALL/FEMAPHOTO BY PATRICIA BRANCH/FEMA






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with demands for their core services that they lack the time or resources to fi nd and interact with others even in the same sphere. Using their convening authority as a catalyst, state offi cials can provide a venue for organizations and in-dividuals with similar goals to fi nd common ground, and perhaps even fi nd ways to divide labor and share resources, making each more ef-fective and effi cient than before.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee demonstrated exactly this kind of leadership when the White House asked his state to house evacuees aft er Hurricane Katrina. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, met with church leaders to arrange for 8,000 to 9,000 evacuees from the New Orleans Superdome to stay at church camps throughout his state.

Without Huckabee’s actions, the church net-work would not have come into existence. While the churches had their own networks within the community, their leaders rarely communicated with one another. Since church leaders serve as community leaders, their infl uence led to an out-pouring of volunteers to attend to the evacuees.

Th e second step is creating the networked governance structure. Taking a group of organi-zations with substantial professional diff erences and tacking them together at the top level can be a recipe for failure. First, set up an eff ective network governance structure. Th e more points

of contact among the players, the more likely trust and communication will fl ourish. Success depends on quickly identifying and resolving any friction points. Joint governance structures that address strategy, management and organi-zational activities can frame a successful network by setting out the network’s overall vision and strategy, bringing areas of contention between network members to the forefront early on, anticipating problem areas, and establishing ways of handling them.

Governance structures also must incorporate procedures for promoting innovation and man-aging change. Governments must create at the outset a streamlined way to capture innovativeideas and suggestions from their partners. Since many citizens clearly wish to help in any way during an emergency, governments would also do well to leverage that spirit. Individuals accomplish amazing things during an emer-gency. Governments can provide the leadership and tools to turn independent gestures into organized eff orts and accomplish much more.

Th e third step is coordinating activities and synchronizing responses. Government can also provide the infrastructure that allows organiza-tions to share information. Take a city facing a terrorist threat to its water system. Th e group of individuals charged with responding to such a threat might include FEMA representatives, state environment offi cials, local hospitals, environ-mental groups, public utility executives, local law enforcement offi cers and building inspectors.

Some states and regions have established fusion centers to collaborate on emergency planning and management. While these were initially formed to bring together law enforcement agencies from multiple jurisdictions and layers of governments,

there’s a trend to include representatives from the private sector, as well as personnel responsible for health surveillance, agriculture surveillance and transportation infrastructure.

A basic requirement for any of these net-works to function would be an electronic coordination mechanism that allows disparate groups to share information in real time and synchronize their response.

Although technology is critical, states must also build strong relationships when creating an emergency management network. Successful networks rely, at least partly, on trust. Without trust, network participants shy away from shar-ing knowledge, hindering coordination among them. Networks operating with a high level of trust, in contrast, lower the costs associated with interorganizational exchanges.

Th e fourth step is realigning the state’s organizational structure and governance. Many states rely on emergency management organi-zational structures established years ago, based upon strict hierarchies and administrative silos. A government creating an integrated emergency management network needs to take a long, hard look at its structure, organizational culture and information architecture. Once offi cials under-stand the current situation, they can determine what changes are needed to encourage better information sharing, collaborative activity and fl exibility.

Th e U.S. Coast Guard’s performance in the Katrina response provides a good example. During the storm, the Coast Guard rescued 33,000 people, reconstituted waterways, con-ducted environmental assessments and restored buoys and channel markers. Critical to the Coast Guard’s success was the fl exibility in the

The following are common logistics management errors made during emergency situations.

Storing equipment and supplies where they can’t be easily transported to the scene of an emergency.Reinventing the wheel, rather than partnering with organizations and businesses with proven logistics expertise.Allowing in-kind donations to fl ow in at random, rather than publicizing exactly what’s needed and creating a mechanism for accepting and storing it.Failing to plan for how an emergency might disrupt the transportation network.Relying on outdated manual processes rather than harnessing advanced supply chain management technologies.

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Key in emergency management is the transportation sector, which has its own network management organizational structure. Source: U.S. Transportation Security Administration

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command structure that allowed those in the fi eld to exercise their own discretion.

Information SharingOne of the most critical elements of a net-

worked emergency response is the ability to share information. Many failures that occurred on 9/11, and in the response to Hurricane Katrina were, at bottom, failures to communicate.

While technology is important, governance structures that support eff ective information fl ows are even more so. Actions a govern-ment can take to improve information sharing include making specifi c plans that spell out the types of information that need to be collected; the organizations responsible for collections; data-sharing uses; guidelines and standards for shared information; and technology tools for information management and collection, including databases, accountability systems, logistics systems, and approaches to track inju-ries or illness among responders.

All in all, there are seven principles for creating an eff ective information-sharing plan, according to physical scientist Brian Jackson’s testimony before the House Committee on Government Reform in March 2006:

set clear goals;get buy-in at the top;create a culture of sharing;create a governance model;establish communication protocols;implement appropriate technology; andmitigate risks.

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LogisticsWhile diffi culties during a disaster may

provoke blame and fi nger pointing, one group oft en fi nds itself singled out for praise. Th ose are the major U.S. retailers — the Wal-Marts, Home Depots and other big box stores. News reports aft er Hurricane Katrina, and aft er the hurricanes that washed over Florida in 2004, tell the story: how fast the trucks started rolling; how soon the stores reopened to meet demand for plywood, mops, bleach, generators, food and water; how quickly the corporations also came through with donated goods. Transpor-tation and logistics fi rms such as DHL Corp., UPS and FedEx are also known for contribut-ing manpower, equipment and much-needed expertise to disaster relief around the world.

One lesson that states and their relief agency partners should learn from the private sector is the importance of logistics. Th is is the science of moving the right goods to the right place at the right time. Leading corporations long ago stopped treating logistics as an aft erthought. Companies recognize that logistics is a core function that requires strategic planning and a serious investment of time and resources. Done right, it cuts costs, improves service and boosts the bottom line.

In emergency management, getting the right goods to the right place at the right time is also vital. Long before a need emerges for emergency equipment and supplies, leaders must develop strategies for procurement, transportation and distribution. Without such strategies, other

aspects of the emergency plan will fall apart. Evacuation centers, for example, serve no purpose if they aren’t stocked with enough food, water, bedding, toilet paper and other supplies to meet the needs of the people who shelter there. Depending on the emergency, the ability to quickly bring in sandbags, fi refi ghting equipment, sump pumps, medication or other vital supplies can mean the diff erence between success and failure. A well conceived logistics program saves eff ort, money and lives.

Th e fi rst step is to understand the nature of, and interrelationships among, key variables that make up the risk. Th e assessment addresses these questions:

What could go wrong (threat)?What could cause it to go wrong (drivers)?How likely is it to go wrong (probability)?What are the consequences?How vulnerable are we?

Th e real killers — oft en, unfortunately, in the literal sense of the word — are risks that carry very serious consequences but happen rarely. Until recently most managers didn’t pay much attention to these risks because the odds against them happening “on their watch” were rather low. But in the rare event that they do occur, the harm they cause is so extreme that neglecting to plan for them leaves the public dangerously vulnerable. Virtually all terrorist actions fall into this category. Th e chance that terrorists will strike most locations is small. But as most locations have no particular safeguards against terror-ists, they are highly vulnerable, and a successful attack on them would cause tremendous damage.

Th en, for each risk, one can decide on the appropriate strategy:

RISK ACCEPTANCE. Th e risks may be negligible, and risk reduction may not be worth the eff ort or feasible.

RISK AVOIDANCE. Take a path that avoids the risk. For example, if a particular technology poses signifi cant risk, abandon research on it.

RISK TRANSFER. Transfer the risk to insur-ance or a third party.

RISK REDUCTION. Change policies and pro-cesses, tune up supporting infrastructure, set up training, defi ne organizational roles and responsi-bilities, and wrap all these activities in a “quality” and continuous improvement envelope.

Evaluating risk appetite sets the overall priorities for developing emergency response capabilities — both those that would apply to a

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These fi ve areas must be present and work together for effective emergency planning and response. Source: Deloitte Research

Key Capabilities

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broad range of emergencies and those tailored to specifi c risks.

Risk ManagementIn this stage, government offi cials develop risk-

specifi c policies, organizational roles and respon-sibilities, and training. Risk management involves building and sustaining capabilities to support the plans and priorities developed during the risk assessment process. Th ese capabilities include:

strategy, operations, fi nance and policies;organizational and people strategies;support infrastructure including technol-ogies; andprocesses for assessment and continuous improvement.

Each organization responsible for emergency management should assess its capabilities to manage risk, starting with a “gap analysis” to illuminate any shortcomings in the manage-ment process — as aligned with the organiza-tion’s risk appetite. A gap analysis begins with describing the process for responding to a crisis or catastrophe. By describing the process — and surfacing and reconciling confl icting points of view — government agencies can better explain, predict and prescribe improvements in policies, organization, infrastructure and technology for emergency response.

Policies should provide unambiguous direction about roles, responsibilities and standard operat-ing procedures to follow as a catastrophe unfolds.

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Organizational and people strategies should clearly delineate responsibilities within and among organizations. One useful tool is a mem-orandum of understanding that defi nes the role of each state and local agency, nonprofi t and private-sector partner expected to respond in an emergency. Partners should conduct training to make sure everyone understands the com-mand, control and communications protocols; knows how to use the necessary technology; and can step into his or her role as soon as it’s time to implement an emergency plan. Also needed are well defi ned procedures for interfac-ing with stakeholders — citizens groups, utility and transportation companies and health-care organizations — as well as with the media. Sup-port infrastructure includes communication technology and processes to keep all levels of government connected, from fi rst responders to executive management.

Assessment and continuous improvement recognize that perfection won’t come easily or immediately. Governments need to develop controls to ensure that everyone understands expectations and that participants continuously measure their progress toward the goal.

Th e goal is to move to a capability maturity model, in which the response to risk is no longer an ad hoc exercise, but rather a well managed process, if not an entirely “optimized” one. If such a model had been applied in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, for example,

none of the fi rst responders would have needed to strike deals on the spot with retail managers to obtain food, water, ammunition, fl ashlights and other goods, or commandeer those goods fi rst and make deals later. Th ere would have been plans in place to equip responders for their jobs, with clear backup plans in case they couldn’t obtain supplies and equipment from the expected sources.

Governance and LeadershipHow a state rises to the challenge of emer-

gency management depends very much on the leadership shown by its governor. Th e state’s chief executive should be the chief evangelist for a networked emergency response. He or she should understand the risks facing the state, put mechanisms in place to answer each risk, promote mitigation strategies and lead the charge to restructure government in ways that encourage collaboration.

States have developed several strategies for organizing their homeland security and emer-gency management infrastructures. Popular approaches include:

Creating a homeland security department whose director coordinates emergency management, law enforcement, fi re and rescue, public health, National Guard, transportation, public works and IT activities related to homeland security and also advises the governor.Appointing the adjutant general, head of the state’s National Guard, as homeland security adviser.Forming a homeland security task force, composed of executive offi ce staff and agency heads from areas such as law en-forcement, fi re and rescue, public health, the National Guard, transportation, public works and IT.

Th e fi rst governance model appears to work best for ensuring high-level attention to emer-gency response and a single individual who can be held accountable by the governor.

Th is article is an adaptation of chapter seven — Upgrading Emergency Preparedness and Response — in States of Transition: Tackling Government’s Toughest Policy and Management Challenges.

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A pandemic fl u outbreak would mean coordinating networks across various entities: state and local public health and safety services; federal emergency manage ment, health, and homeland security agencies; relevant international agencies; and the health-care industry, among others.Source: Deloitte Research

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Th e new monitor provides immediate and reliable verifi cation of neutron presence, including cases of low gamma dose rates where current neutron detector product pagers indicate false neutrons. In addition to its high sensitivity, the RadEye N is lightweight (185g) and can be transported anywhere without aff ecting work performance. Th e RadEye N may be used by fi rst responders including law enforcement offi cers to ensure harmful neutrons are not present during an incident.

For additional information on the RadEye N, please visit www.thermo.com/rmp.

Water ProtectionGuardianBlue Early Warning System — the fi rst and only early warning system for drinking water certifi ed by the Department of Homeland Security — is designed to help cities protect their drinking water systems from terrorist contamination attacks and real-world events, according to the manufacturer.

GuardianBlue, created by Hach Co., lets users detect, alert and classify a wide variety of threat contaminants, from cyanide and anthrax to arsenic and pesticides; and helps them detect, alert, classify and learn from events, such as water main breaks, caustic overfeeds, cross connections and aging infrastructure.

Th is technology also detects and provides alerts on unknown water quality deviations, so the system warns operators about foreign agents, unidentifi ed contamination and operational events never previously encoun-tered. See www.hach.com for more details.

Forecast Gadget In September 2007, AccuWeather.com introduced a 15-day weather forecast gadget for iGoogle, Google’s customizable home page. Th e gadget off ers a wide range of informa-tion, including detailed radar, current conditions, hour-by-hour forecasts, and fi ve-day and 15-day forecasts.

Th e forecast gadget can be expanded and collapsed to show as much or as little information as the user wants on a home page. Th e forecast gadget covers more than 2.7 million locations worldwide, and is compatible with iGoogle-supported browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Netscape.

Users can also add the Hurricane Center Watch Gadget, which lets users monitor tropi-cal activity and get updates, including images and videos. For more information, visit www.accuweather.com.

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Products






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Act Now for 211

Last Word

Th e 2007 hurricane season is under way — are we really prepared?

Since the devastating hurricanes in 2005, we’ve all learned that we must improve disaster preparation and response.

When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisianaand Mississippi, tens of thousands of people were without food, shelter and emergency services. Some Gulf Coast communities were more prepared to respond to citizens — not because they were above sea level or outside the hur-ricane itself, but because they had 211. This three-digit dialing code connects citizens seeking critical services or vol-unteer opportunities with appropriate community-based organizations and government agencies.

Louisiana’s 211 system was established in 2003, and when Katrina struck in Sep-tember 2005, 211 was invaluable in the state’s response and recovery process, assisting those still in the area.

Mississippi, however, didn’t have 211 when Hurricane Katrina hit. Victims had to call one of more than 200 agencies to access help. With little information about where to go, many victims called 911 with questions, tremendously straining the emergency response system. Th is meant many with true emergencies couldn’t receive help quickly.

“We didn’t have a system in place,” said Carol Burger, president and CEO of the United Way in Jackson, Miss. “We failed two populations: people who needed the help and

people who wanted to help.” Mississippi fi nally estab-

lished 211 in July 2006.When not serving as a

disaster response channel, 211 facilitates access to day-to-day public services, such as food pantries, child-care centers, medical information

lines, health insurance programs, job train-ing, transportation assistance, adult day care, home health care, protective services and donation centers. It’s also a repository for community volunteer opportunities.

President Bush’s 2007 fi scal plan called for an additional $2.3 billion for emer-gency response preparedness programs. To maximize these programs, communi-ties need to know they exist.

More than 65 percent of Americans can access 211, with more systems start-ing each month. Yet millions still, without 211, are uninformed and lacking access to needed services. 211 systems have sim-plifi ed processes and connected people with community services effi ciently and cost-eff ectively. Millions more Americans deserve to benefi t from their communi-ties’ greater services and to learn how to get help on their own.

This year, Congress reintroduced leg-islation to authorize federal funding to help create nationwide 211 access. The Calling for 211 Act, which enjoys broad

bipartisan support, deserves national attention now.

Th e National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center projected a 75 percent likelihood that the current Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal. With the widespread devas-tation that lingers aft er Hurricane Katrina, it’s incomprehensible that a service of such proven value doesn’t exist nationwide. Th e $150 million needed to fund national 211 is a small investment compared to the more than $62 billion the federal govern-ment approved for Hurricane Katrina relief funding.

During crises, fi nding help should be easy. If these disasters don’t compel change, what will? Now’s the time to act. I urge you to fi rst call 211 to see if you can access the ser-vice and become familiar with the aid it off ers — and to contact your congressperson to support national passage of 211 by dialing 1-888-PASS-211 (1-888-727-7211). k

58

b

Brian A. Gallagher is president and CEO of the United Way of America

Brian A. Gallagherby

If these disasters don’t compel change, what will? Now’s the time to act.






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Emergency Response technology and services that help you prepare for, respond to, and manage disasters.

Autodesk helps decision makers in sharing critical data

across agencies to help ensure a coordinated and effective

response in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.

From web-based mapping to disaster analysis, Autodesk

has helped to support emergency professionals for years.

Today, we offer the Autodesk Emergency Response Solution

– technology and services that assist you by integrating

design, physical asset, and emergency response information

with location. Autodesk can help you make informed

decisions quickly and confidently.

To find out more about Autodesk’s Emergency Planning

& Response solutions, visit www.dlt.com/autodesk/EM.






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We understand the role the right technology can play in helping you protect the lives of others. At CDW•G, we’re there with a dedicated

personal account manager who understands the needs of today’s public safety professionals. And with best-of-breed solutions from

the top names in the industry in almost every technology product category imaginable, you not only get what you need, you get it

exactly when you need it.

When every change you make to your technology may change someone’s life, we’re there.

©2007 CDW Government, Inc.

CDWG.com | 800.767.4239

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emergency management magazine november / fall 2007 · 2016. 11. 28. · 6 contributors 12 river of...

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