Emergency Management Year in Review

Transcription

1 2017 Emergency Management Year in Review

2 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT YEAR IN REVIEW 2017 Director s Message I am delighted to bring you the annual report of the OEM for This report showcases our achievements over the past year as we continue to work toward our vision of a safer future for the residents of St. Louis County through effective partnerships that are focused on saving lives and reducing the impact of disasters will always be remembered for a once in a lifetime event: The Great American Solar Eclipse. A 2 minute event which took months of planning and preparation. The eclipse was sandwiched between four other EOC activations, all of which are detailed within this report. Mission Statement Work with the entire community to build, sustain, and improve our capacity to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from all hazards Rest assured that the men and women of the OEM will continue to work hard to maintain a constant state of readiness so that when the next disaster strikes, you can be confident in our ability to mitigate its effects. The past year has been exciting mix of change, challenge and collaboration. We have several new staff members who have brought new talents, viewpoints and experience which will continue to serve our office, the police department and most importantly the citizens of St. Louis County into the future. Emergency Preparedness is a team effort. The threat of natural and human caused disasters is always present and it is imperative that everyone develop personal, family and business preparedness plans. As we look towards 2018, rest assured that the St. Louis County OEM will continue to work towards the goal of making this community safer for everyone who lives, works and plays in St. Louis County. Mark Diedrich - Director Office of Emergency Management In This Issue Accomplishments Community Involvement Training Updates Professional Development Program Updates Good-Byes & Hellos 2018 Goals

3 Incident Activations Winter Ice Storm Emergency Event Operational and Logistical support to include coordination with outside agencies (i.e. Hospitals, Medical Centers, Highway/Road Departments, Utilities, etc). In anticipation of this event, the St. Louis County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) began a Level 3 activation at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, January 13, A Level 3 activation is for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) personnel only. The EOC proceeded to monitor weather forecasts, road conditions, utility interruptions and other weather-related hazards. The EOC remained fully operational until 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 14, The EOC closed at this time although OEM staff continued to monitor the weather situation. Meramec River Flooding Emergency Event Providing assistance with command and control in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the overall coordination and control of personnel and agencies deployed during the 2017 Flooding Event. Logistical support during the planning process which involved identifying, acquiring, and accounting for materials to support the flood event operation. Examples include locations of Staging/Assembly Areas and the furnishing of those sites, plus food, beverages, equipment and office supplies. The Great American Solar Eclipse Planned Historical Event The Eclipse was the first to occur in the St. Louis Region since year The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) spent months pre-planning for this event. Due to its rarity, this event brought thousands of people to Missouri and through the St. Louis Metro area. All hotels were booked months prior and Eclipse Watch Parties were showing up all over the region. The EOC was activated for the Eclipse event to monitor for any type of health or criminal related activities related to the large number of public gatherings.

4 Incident Activations Ferguson Anniversary Planned Event Office of Emergency Management (OEM) personnel provided support to the St. Louis County Police Department for the 2017 Ferguson Anniversary. The OEM created and maintained the Incident Action Plans, and also assisted with logistics, computer, printer and phone issues, building security and any special requests/ needs. Items that the OEM coordinated possession were pre-staged but never put into service in the field. The OEM maintained a remote monitoring status and never activated the EOC. Former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Jason Stockley Murder Trial Verdict Protests Planned Event Office of Emergency Management (OEM) personnel provided support to the St. Louis County Police Department for their response to assist the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department with the Civil Unrest related to this verdict. The OEM created and maintained the Incident Action Plans, EOC Action Plans and also assisted with logistics, computer, printer and phone issues, building security and any special requests/needs at the County PD Staging Area. The EOC was activated on the morning of September 15, 2017, and maintained coverage until October 7, St. Louis County Police Department Civil Disturbance Response Team (CDRT) Incident Action Plans Planned Event Office of Emergency Management (OEM) personnel provided support to the St. Louis County Police Department for their response to the potential of ongoing Civil Unrest related to Former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Jason Stockley Murder Verdict. The OEM Staff was tasked with creating Incident Action Plans daily since the original detail was secured on October 7, 2017 and will continued to produce and distribute the IAP until November 30, The St. Louis County Chief William Karabas Emergency Communications Building which houses the County OEM / EOC

5 The OEM Staff has completed a total of 98 hours of continuing education training. These classes range from building block courses for new topics to in-depth training for job specific roles. This number of total hours is down drastically due to the emergency detachment of two (2) OEM Staff members to the Bureau of Communications for the last six (6) months of Highlights In 2017, the OEM Staff learned of new ways to improve activations and response by our ESF partners. These lessons to implement were discovered during the AAR production for the two (2) recent flood events. The OEM has established that all persons responding to the EOC for any type of activation need to have the following courses completed. ICS 100, 200, 300, 700 & 800. In addition to these courses, the OEM is requiring that all persons participate in a Functional EOC Exercise. These course completion have a deadline of March 1, 2018, in time for the Spring Weather season. By having responding personnel complete these courses, it will allow them to better understand the processes and procedures that are in place during any activation. The OEM delivered the following classroom instruction 4 Police Recruit Classes (Homeland Security Block) 1 ICS 300 Courses 1 ICS 400 Course 3 Tele Communicator Courses 1 ICS 402 Courses 2 ICS Overview Block for newly promoted SLCPD Sergeants 1 ICS 100 & 700 Course for ESF Partners 3 Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) Classes Disaster Preparedness Block The OEM participated in the following exercises: West Lake Landfill Tabletop Exercise TSA Inter-Modal Tabletop Exercise Regional SMOC and Healthcare Coalition Full-Scale Exercise St. Louis Regional Radiological Response Corps Full-Scale Exercise Maryville University Tabletop Exercise Lambert St. Louis International Airport Disaster Full-Scale Exercise St. Louis County Dept of Health Point of Distribution (POD) Full Scale Exercise United States Pipeline Association 1 FBI Pipeline Infrastructure and WMD Emergency Response Workshop - Overland Park, Kansas 1 Missouri Pipeline Association Workshop Emergency Management Preparedness Grant (EMPG) 1-- WebEOC Exercise for the Statewide Tornado Drill 1 WebEOC Exercise for the Statewide Great Shakeout Drill 1 WebEOC Exercise for the Autumn Drill

6 Highlights Continued The following were professional educational courses offered within St. Louis County: Sports and Special Events Incident Management Course Enhanced Sports and Special Events Course Multi-Hazard Planning for Higher Education Course Rapid Needs Assessment Course Hazardous Weather and Flood Preparedness Workshop in Emergency Management Amateur Radio Resources Course. The OEM had three (3) staff members attend the 29th Annual State of Missouri Emergency Management (SEMA) Conference. The Conference is designed for all individuals with a responsibility in Emergency Management and an interest in any area of Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery. The entire OEM Staff attended the State of Missouri Emergency Managers Association (MoEMA) Conference. This one day conference is designed for Emergency Managers to get updates from the State of Missouri on new technologies and platforms that also include policy changes as it relates to how SEMA assists and responds to local jurisdictions during times of need.

7 Salamander Resource Tracking System In 2016 the OEM introduced the Salamander (Resource Tracking Software) program for use by all County Departments. In 2017, the program was fully active to be used and put into daily operations by many County Departments. The Salamander system is designed to better assist with inventory and resource management through an allinclusive database. This solution gives all city/county/regional/state agencies the ability to resource type equipment to produce a standardized data set used resource tracking and accountability purposes. The system gives end users the ability to produce a wide variety of barcoded equipment labels, equipment cards/key-fobs, and barcoded "battle book" reports. Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) In 2016 the OEM Staff began the process gain accreditation through the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). The EMAP Accreditation process continued into 2017 and will be ongoing until the accreditation is awarded. This process is an independent, non-profit organization that fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs by establishing credible standards applied in a peer review accreditation process. Those standards were reviewed and divided accordingly to daily tasks handled by members of the OEM Staff. OEM Explorer Post In 2017, the OEM Staff continued to focus on the growth of their Youth Explorer Post. They accomplished this by promoting the program to students in area schools. During the monthly meetings the OEM Staff discuss best practices on topics such as Emergency Preparedness and Incident Command Systems. Additionally, the Explorers are given the opportunity to work through a variety of tabletop exercises related to Emergency Management. EOC Action Plans The OEM Staff began using an EOC Action Plan (EAP) for all EOC Activations. This plan is very similar to the Incident Action Plan (IAP) used by agencies in the field during any event or emergency. The EOC Action Plan is a series of documents that is based on how the EOC will be staffed and how it will respond to assist the units in the field. This document is related to the IAP since the EOC is in place to support the front lines.

8 At the start of 2017, a longtime employee of the Police Department left the Emergency Management staff to take over a role in the private sector. Mr. Richard Pingleton was a valued member of the OEM Staff. In his role as the Communications Coordinator, he was tasked with managing the department cell phones, radios and building Communications Plans for any planned or emergency based event within St. Louis County. Rich was also a trainer for the radio system and ICS based courses. The vacancy created with Rich Pingleton leaving, a longtime employee of the Police Department was added to the Emergency Management staff. Mr. Eddie Baird was appointed to the team in June Also during 2017, another longtime employee of the Police Department retired from the Emergency Management staff to take over a role in the private sector. Mr. Brian Adams was a valued member of the OEM Staff. In his role as an Emergency Management Specialist, Brian was tasked with being a board member of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). He was actively involved in numerous Public Safety Committees such as the Mass Fatality group, the St. Louis County Fire Special Operations / HAZMAT Committee, and the St. Louis Radiological Medical Reserve Corps Committee to name a few. Daily, he constantly reviewed plans and procedures for accuracy. Brian also took the lead in producing After Action Reports (AAR). On November 6, 2017, Ms. Elizabeth Ellie Collett began as our new Emergency Management Specialist. Ellie was our intern during the Spring Semester on She graduated from St. Louis University with a Bachelor s Degree in Emergency Management. Ms. Teresa Singler, another longtime employee of the Police Department retired from the Emergency Management staff to take over a role in the private sector. Teresa was a valued member of the OEM Staff. In her role as the Emergency Management Program Manager, she was tasked with being a board member of the LEPC. Daily, she managed the budgets of the LEPC, the OEM as well as the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG). The OEM Internship Program continued as an educational tool for Emergency Management students. In May, Ms. Lindsey Dennett was interviewed and selected. Her term start dates was delayed and began in June Lindsey s time with us went through the end of August 2017.

9 Multi Year Training and Exercise Program (MYTEP) The MYTEP is updated on an annual basis for training and every one or two years for exercises. The plan is updated and developed through a course of Training & Exercise Planning Workshops (TEPW). These workshops require a unified attendance from St Louis County municipalities and whole community partners (i.e. SMOC, MoDot, NWS, etc). Without this unified effort, the MYTEP is unable to be fully developed. In addition, the workshop allows for municipalities and partners to discuss what type of exercises (i.e. tabletop, functional, or full-scale) they would like to see in their communities and formulate their planning processes. The TEPW and MYTEP are two important tools which, guides an organization s Training and Exercise Program. During her time as an Intern, Ellie Collett took the concept and made it a reality. The OEM will continue to build this program and turn it into a cycle with her recommendations. Community Involvement Emergency Management is a community effort. From preparedness to response, building relationships with the community is essential. OEM Staff partner with multiple local, state and federal organizations. Those partnerships are: Missouri Emergency Management Association (MoEMA) Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) MidAmerica Contingency Planning Forum (MCPF) Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Academy

10 Continue the Multi Year Training and Exercise Program Maintain and update the Internship Program as needed Enhance disaster education and training within the County Continue to build the EOC Training Program. Continue the EMAP Accreditation process. Review and update the comprehensive Basic Emergency Operations Plan CEM/AEM Accreditation for all OEM Staff Members Continue to implement the Salamander (Resource Tracking) Program for use by all County Departments so all resources are accounted for and tracked daily. Contact Us St. Louis County Office of Emergency Management 1150 Hanna Road St. Louis, MO (314) Visit us online at: lawandpublicsafety/ emergencymanagement Facebook stlcooem/