Maryland Emergency Management Agency Camp Fretterd Military Reservation 5401 Rue Saint Lo Drive Reisterstown, Maryland 21136 Phone: 410-517-3600 Fax: 410-517-3610 Toll Free: 877-MEMA-USA (636-2872) http://mema.maryland.gov/ Executive Director: Clay Stamp Director of Administration: Dave McDonough Director of Operations: Kate Hession Director of Preparedness: Brendan McCluskey Report to the Maryland State Firemen s Association April 18, 2015 1
The Maryland Emergency Management Agency MEMA 101 Video Presentation On behalf of Executive Director Clay Stamp and the entire Agency, we are pleased to announce the debut of our newest educational video, Introduction to MEMA (a.k.a. "MEMA 101"), which is intended to help communicate the mission, role, and responsibilities of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to our partners and stakeholders. Please take a few minutes to watch the video in its entirety and learn about the inner workings of MEMA, from the MJOC, to planning, to grants - and everything else in between. The 18- minute video can be accessed on the MEMA YouTube page or the MEMA website, under "Emergency Community." Many thanks go out to the individuals who contributed to this innovative and important project. We hope you enjoy the video. MEMA YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/mematraining MEMA Website: http://mema.maryland.gov/community/pages/default.aspx 2
MEMA Operations Directorate Maryland Joint Operations Center (MJOC) The MJOC has completed a recent upgrade of communication infrastructure, which allows them better and more robust involvement in statewide communication initiatives at all levels of government. State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) In June of 2014, the SEOC completed a complete renovation of the facility. The new pod/workgroup layout of the SEOC provides for better coordination and communication among the SEOC Representatives. Response Operational Status Levels The State of Maryland has established four response operational status levels, referred to as status levels, as noted in the table below. Each status level represents an increased need for situational awareness and coordination of State response activities and resources. 3
Regional Liaison Officer (RLO) Program MEMA has broken out the State of Maryland into six regions. Each region has been assigned an RLO to support and champion MEMA initiatives at the local level. Western and Capital Region: John Reginaldi, john.reginaldi@maryland.gov Central Region: John Dulina, john.dulina@maryland.gov Southern Region: Kelly McGuire, kelly.mcguire@maryland.gov Upper Eastern Shore: Bill Hildebrand, william.hildebrand@maryland.gov Lower Eastern Shore: Ed Werkheiser, edward.werkheiser@maryland.gov 4
MEMA Preparedness Directorate Improving Operations Planning Documents Over the past several months, MEMA Planners have been diligently working to improve the quality of the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) planning products, and support the Operations Directorate in developing procedures for increasing the State Response Activation Level (SRAL). Through their efforts to update the State s Situation Report (SitRep) and the State Support Plan (SSP) templates, MEMA response partners and local jurisdictions are receiving meaningful products that support response operations. MEMA s SitRep and SSP templates were outdated and did not communicate all of the key information response partners needed. These documents were revised, integrating bestpractices, in order to make the documents user-friendly and compliant with national standards. The goal of the revision project was also to enhance the ability of the planning section to conduct true data analysis, tracking issues such as road temperatures, power outages, and accidents over time during an incident. This analysis will, in turn, help to guide the decisionmaking of senior leadership. The new SitRep template was first used for Weather Event 25 January 15 and has been tweaked during subsequent activations. A significant change is an executive summary section, which highlights key facts about the incident and provides a snapshot of what the State is doing to manage consequences. The new template also allows for significant data analysis, as witnessed by recent activations. The new template has been well received by both recipients as well as planners assembling the reports. In addition to the SitRep, the planners also led a complete overhaul of the SSP. The revised SSP has new features, such as an interactive cover that changes for each operational period to provide information about the upcoming operational period, tracking of Emergency Support Function (ESF) tasks and resources, a demobilization checklist, and an area for tracking changes to the current SSP. The ICS-201 form was removed, as it should not be included in an SSP. The new SSP hit the street for Weather Event 23 Feb 15. 5
Learning Management System (LMS) Knowledge Bank (KB) MEMA s Learning Management System (LMS) is the main source of information about training classes and exercises involving MEMA and its Maryland partners. But Maryland classes and exercises are not the only information to be found in the LMS. As our familiarity with the system increases, we are exploring new ways of announcing training and exercise information available outside the state. If you ve used the LMS recently, you have noticed the large message window that opens up when you log in. This Log In Message contains new information about training and exercise opportunities available outside Maryland. This message may include a link to the LMS Knowledge Bank (KB). The KB is a place to store documents and other useful training information. Currently the Knowledge Bank contains announcements for training sponsored by FEMA, Washington, D.C., and the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. We have also added a folder for miscellaneous training and exercise opportunities that don t fall into the other categories. If you see something in the Log In Message that interests you, click the Knowledge Bank button in the Log In Message, and you will be taken to the KB, where you can find the folders for the announcements. You can also get to the KB by logging in and going to the LMS home page. Click on the Knowledge tab in the command line, then click on the Knowledge Bank link. You will be taken to the KB main page where you will see the list of folders. Clicking on any of the folders will open a list of training and exercise announcements, which you can click to open. Hazard Mitigation Funding MEMA Executive Director Clay Stamp joined officials from Carroll County, the town of Union Bridge, and the Union Bridge Fire Company to announce a recent award of nearly $90,000 to purchase and install a new generator at the Union Bridge Fire Company. The project is one of eight throughout the State of Maryland that was awarded with federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding. Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Dorchester, Harford, and Queen Anne s Counties and Ocean City received a grand total of $1.8 million to elevate buildings, install power generators, or purchase at-risk structures. These projects help protect life and property from natural disasters, enable partner agencies to effectively respond, and promote community recovery following incidents. 6
MEMA Administration Directorate Preparedness Grant Programs MEMA has managed $368,424,318 in Preparedness Grants since 2002. Most of that funding has passed to local jurisdictions. These funds support emergency planning, fire, police, and emergency medical response and other aspects of local and regional preparedness for all hazards facing Marylanders. For FFY2014, Maryland was awarded approximately $18.8 million in federal homeland security and preparedness grant funds. In the federal fiscal years leading up to FFY2014, Congress has decreased the total amount of funding available to all states and localities for homeland security and preparedness as well as the number of funded grant programs. These decisions have resulted in far fewer grant dollars awarded to Maryland state agencies and local jurisdictions than in past years. For FFY2011, the most recent fiscal year for which all data is available, MEMA administered approximately $30.2million. Emergency response planning activities account for the most commonly reported expenditure among state and local grant recipients. Each jurisdiction in Maryland receives a minimum-base allocation of funds from the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) which are used to support at least one emergency planner position. The primary areas of investment include Planning, Interoperable Communications, HazMat and Explosive Device Response, Personal Protective Equipment, and Critical Infrastructure Protection. 7
Disaster Assistance Grant Programs MEMA has provided and managed $172,236,745 in disaster assistance to local partners and other state agencies since 2007. Public Assistance provides support to state and local governments, and certain qualifying Private Non-Profit Organizations that provide governmentlike services for extraordinary costs associated with storm response and recovery particularly personnel costs, equipment costs and other costs or damages experienced as a result of the storm and is intended to supplement pre-existing insurance. Categories of assistance include debris removal, emergency protective measures, road systems and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings and contents, public utilities, and parks, recreational and other items. Since 1962, Maryland has had 30 Disasters of all types (25 Major, 5 emergency); nine of those 30 have occurred in just the last 4 years - that is 30%, or roughly a third of all disasters ever declared for the state in the last 52 years, have occurred since 2010. MEMA Master Services Contract MEMA led the procurement process for a master contract for Emergency Management and Homeland Security services across five functional areas: Planning, Training, Exercises, Response, and Recovery. Final assessment of qualifying bids is underway. The contract, once approved by the Board of Public Works, will provide MEMA, other State agencies, and local jurisdictions the ability to issue task orders for specific needs in each functional area. In addition, the contract provides for an accelerated task order process to bring on support during Gubernatorially declared State of Emergency. 8