Emergency Management...Always Working for a Disaster Prepared and Resilient Community

Walla Walla County Emergency Management Department

27 N. 2nd Avenue Walla Walla, Washington 99362 Phone: (509) 524-2900 • Fax: (509) 524-2910 www.wwemd.info

Emergency Management Executive Board (EMEB) Meeting Walla Walla County Emergency Operations Center

27 N. 2nd St. Walla Walla, WA 99362

April 18, 2017

Members Present: Jim Duncan, Commissioner, Walla Walla County Randy Hinchliffe, Administrator, City of Waitsburg Allen Pomraning, City of Walla Walla, Mayor Nabiel Shawa, City of Walla Walla, City Manager Harvey Crowder, City of College Place, Mayor Mike Rizzitiello, City of College Place, City Manager

Emergency Management Department Present:

Liz Jessee, Director

Patrick Purcell, Coordinator

Minutes:

Call to Order

The meeting of the board was called to order by Commissioner Duncan, at 4:00 PM at the Walla Walla County Emergency Operations Center.

Emergency Management Department Quarterly Director’s Report

Liz reviewed the items which were highlighted in the 1st Quarter Calendar Year Director’s Report.

Governors Proclamations

Liz provided the board with copies of Governor’s proclamation 17-03 (Severe Winter Weather) and 17-04/05 (Flooding) She briefed that Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDAs) had been collected and sent to FEMA for 2017-03; still waiting to hear from WA State Emergency Management as to whether or not PDAs will be requested for 17-04/05. The Governor has requested Federal assistance for 17-03. UPDATE: Federal request for assistance was approved on April 21, 2017.

Upcoming Exercises

Liz briefed the following upcoming exercises to the board.

• Comprehensive Wildfire Strategy Group Wild Fire Simulation Exercise - April 19, 2017 in Dayton, WA

• Mill Creek Flood Control Levee Break Exercise. As requested by the board this exercise will revolve arounda levee failure resulting in severe inundation affecting hospitals and critical infrastructure. Focus will be onmanaging evacuations and less on public works and Army Corps of Engineers response. Square KnotPreparedness, has been hired to facilitate a series of planning meetings culminating in the inundationsimulation/exercise. The initial planning meeting will be conducted – May 8, 2017

• Region 8 Health Care Coalition Full Scale Exercise – June 7, 2017

Walla Walla County Emergency Management Department 27 N. 2nd Avenue Phone: 509.524.2900 Fax: 509.524.2910 emd@co.walla-walla.wa.us

Upcoming Training

Liz briefed that Walla Walla County EMD would be sponsoring ICS-300 May 30-31, 2017 and ICS 400 on June 15-16, 2017.

Grant Status Update

Liz briefed board members on the status of:

• FFY17 State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP) and the Emergency Management Program Grant (EMPG) – Expected to be the same as FFY16

• FFY18 SHSP & EMPG – Proposed 25% cuts in President’s budget proposal with a 25% match requirement for SHSP. EMPG already has a match requirement.

There was discussion about the potential funding issues raised by possible grant reductions. Congress will ultimately decide what the budget looks like, so the grant funding amounts could likely change. Liz stated that she is just now spending FFY15 and 16 so impact on the EM organization for FFY18 would be ‘down the road.’ All board members agreed that an emergency management program is required, regardless of federal grant funding.

Questions, Comments or Concerns

Nabiel Shawa mentioned that consideration should be given to conducting an earthquake scenario exercise next year.

Next Meeting Date

July 18, 2017

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at 4:52 PM.

WALLA WALLA COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR’S REPORT

JANUARY-MARCH 2017

Report is formatted with activities outside of typical calendar events highlighted.

1. Program Administration and Planning

a. WWEM continued it’s on updating the Walla Walla County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP), and have engaged the assistance of Washington Military Department, Emergency Management Division for completion of the county’s HAZMAT Response Plan.

b. WWEM attended the following REP Program Issues meeting with REP counties, state agencies and Energy Northwest. (2/2/17 & 3/22/17)

c. Attended a Region 8 Homeland Security Council meeting. (2/1/17)

d. Chaired the Emergency Management Services and Trauma Care Council meeting. (2/2/17)

e. Attended Region 8 Healthcare Coalition (HCC) Regional Full-Scale Exercise planning meetings. (1/30/2017 & 3/2/2017)

f. Facilitated and participated in a Tri-County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meeting hosted by Franklin County EM. (3/7/17)

g. Attended Region 8 Health Care Coalition (HCC) Planning meetings. (2/8/2017–webinar & 3/8/2017)

h. Attended the Region 8 HCC meeting at Richland WA. (3/8/2017)

i. Attended the Quad-County Chiefs’ Meeting. (3/2/17)

j. Attended Emergency Management and Communications Advisory Board (EMCAB) meetings. (1/12/17, 3/9/17)

k. Conducted an Emergency Management Executive Board (EMEB) meeting. (1/17/17)

l. Attended a meeting with representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla Branch to review and finalize the MOU for flood fight operations in Walla Walla County. (1/25/17)

m. Chaired the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Steering committee meeting to discuss ongoing revision of the CWPP. The City of Walla in partnership with WWEM continues to revise the CWPP using guidelines established by the Cohesive Wildfire Strategy group and using the Okanogan CWPP as the template. The completed plan will be an all-county plan whereas previous plans focused on the City of Walla Walla Mill Creek Watershed only. WWEM will continue to facilitate regular meetings until the plan revision is completed in 2017. (1/11/17 & 2/22/17 & 3/22/17)

n. Registered and issued Washington State Emergency Worker identification cards for the Walla Walla Emergency Warming Center, the Walla Walla County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team. Obtained State Mission numbers for Severe Weather, the Warming Center and Search & Rescue and posted information about activations on social media.

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o. Participated in FEMA Region 10 Mitigation Planning Team 2017 Natural Hazards Mitigation Planning Coffee Break Webinar, Effective Public Engagement in Mitigation Planning. (3/31/17)

2. Public Information

a. WWEM maintains a presence on social media with a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Information about emergency preparedness is shared daily. These social media outlets serve as an important source for disseminating accurate and timely information during emergencies.

WWEM used Social Media to update Walla Walla residents of information pertaining to winter storm, stream flow and high water issues within Walla Walla county. Citizens were alerted to the possibility of flooding during two separate high water incidents brought about by snow melt and unusually heavy seasonal rainfall.

b. WWEM maintains and updates the Walla Walla County Emergency Management web site, www.wwemd.info. Post-flood/flood recovery information was added to the website.

c. WWEM prepared and presented emergency preparedness information to the Sunrise Rotary Club (1/11/17) and the Providence St. Mary’s Medical Center Diabetes Support Group (3/16/17).

d. WWEM staff delivered information to citizens as needed, through phone calls, or in response to walk-ins. Information provided included Emergency Preparedness Concepts, Preparedness Kits, county hazards and Everbridge registration.

e. Hosted Dr. Paul Hessberg from the Pacific Northwest Research Station and the University of Washington as he gave a 60-minute presentation on the “Era of Mega Fires at Whitman College. His presentation covered the need for a change in forestry management practices to avoid the recent mega fires which are projected to continue with greater and greater frequency in many parts of the Pacific Northwest. His talk was well attended and well received.

3. Training

Staff attended and/or facilitated the following training to complete the required training for the staff involved in the planning effort and to maintain/improve professional competencies:

a. WWEM attended MGT-312 Senior Officials All Hazards Workshop.

This course provides training to senior and elected officials familiarizing them with their

Emergency Management roles and responsibilities. Also in attendance was the Mayor and City Manager for the City of College Place. (2/23/17)

b. WWEM attended AWR-140 Introduction to Radiological/Nuclear WMD Operations.

This course familiarizes the participants with the fundamentals of radiation/nuclear WMD hazards and mitigation. (2/27/17)

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d. Attended the ARES club meeting (Walla Walla) and conducted HIPPA training. This was to support continuing education for operators in preparation for all-hazard emergencies involving the transmission of patient medical information. (3/20/17)

e. WWEM completed IS-00251: Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems (IPAWS) for Alerting Authorities and IS-00247A: Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.

These are required independent study courses which cover the fundamentals of IPAWS systems and operations for Alerting Authorities.

f. WWEM completed the online IPAWS integration certification training class through Everbridge University.

This is a course required by Everbridge for access to IPAWS capability on the Citizen Alert emergency notification system.

4. Drills and Exercises

a. Participated in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla Branch, Mill Creek Stage 3 Flood light tower and storage dam flood operations exercise. (1/24/17)

b. Participated in a Columbia Generating Station (CGS) Joint Information Center (JIC) News Release Coordination exercise. (2/16/2017)

c. Participated in the SIMCELL for a Columbia Generating Station (CGS) Full Scale Exercise (FSE). (3/14/17)

d. Participated in the weekly CEMNET radio tests with Washington State EOC. This is an alternate means of communications between the Walla Walla County Operational Area EOC and the State EOC.

e. Participated in required weekly tests of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) using AlertSense, a web-based program.

5. Emergency Facilities and Equipment

a. Maintain and operates main office and EOC facilities and equipment:

b. Maintain fee-based access to the use of a toll-free number through FreedomVoice. This system enables WWEM to set up multiple telephone numbers to receive phone calls from a pre-established toll free number. A call center could then be established during an event, with the toll-free number given out to media and/or the public.

c. Maintain an internal database for tracking emergency resources. Where applicable, NIMS typing information is included.

6. Alert and Notification

a. Uses, and maintains, an Emergency Notification System (ENS) from Everbridge. The emergency notification system is able to alert residents about severe weather, fires, floods, toxic environmental issues, radiological events and other emergencies. Citizens listed in the County’s white/yellow-pages landline phone database are automatically subscribed to emergency alerts by phone. Citizens may also self-register their cell phone, VOIP phone, email, text message device, fax, and pager using a link at www.wwemd.info.

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WWEM engaged Everbridge helpdesk services to update the yellow and white page information on the Citizen Alert portion of the system in March 2017.

Walla Walla County added their elected officials and department heads, the Cities of Walla Walla and College Place have added all of their employees, and Warming Center volunteers have been added to the system.

There were opportunities to test the system during the period covered as it was used to warn citizens of an ice storm event in January and was also used for notifying Emergency Warming Center Volunteers and staff.

WWEM has completed all the administrative processing and training to become IPAWS

compliant. WWEM is currently waiting on the IPAWS certificate from FEMA.