July 5, 2007

Danville CERT receives presidential award
Danville Community Emergency Response Team received the 2007 Presidential Volunteer Service Award last month at the International Association of Emergency Managers conference in Washington, D.C. Kathy Wills Wright, special assistant to the president and deputy director of USA Freedom Corps, presented the award to Doug Young, Jack Aaron, Jr. and Al Smith. In 2006, Danville's 200 CERT members volunteered 7,632 hours.

• CERT command staff and members set up mobile command post operations and assisted in the Danville Emergency Operations Center in response to tornadoes, the Dan River flooding, Tropical Storm Ernesto and "The Verizon Incident," in which a major phone line was severed, cutting off all 911 communications to the affected area.
• Danville CERT planned and conducted the city's Homeland Security Exercise in October. The Danville CERT Command Staff are also members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee.
• CERT operations has become a division within the city's Department of Emergency Services.
• The organization maintains a CERT trailer to serve as a forward command post, an all-terrain vehicle with a victim transport rack and a bicycle team to assist on the city's walking trail.
• Danville CERT members have received specific training to operate in the city school system, retirement homes, businesses, neighborhoods, day care centers and churches.
• Danville CERT instructors have created a Campus CERT at Danville Community College.
• Danville has also partnered with Pittsylvania County CERT to teach CERT classes to blind residents.

The President's Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals, families and groups that have achieved a certain standard, measured by the number of hours served over a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime. Visit the USA Freedom Corps Web site for more information at http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/tg/pvsainfo/dspAboutAwards.cfm.

Fairfax County wins WebEOC users' group award
The Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management's Northern Virginia WebEOC users' group received the first Catalyst Award from the WebEOC User Advisory Board at Emergency Services Integrators, Inc. The users' group received the award last month at the 2007 ESi User Conference in San Antonio for outstanding regional WebEOC integration, sharing of data and user group formation. In late 2005, Fairfax County used more than $1.2 million in federal grant funds to create a Northern Virginia WebEOC program that consists of 10 jurisdictions. WebEOC is a Web-based incident management software system used by emergency managers and other agencies to manage significant events.

For more information, contact the Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management at (703) 324-2362.

NIMS compliance extension available
Under guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, localities can request a 120-day extension of the Sept. 30 deadline for FY07 National Incident Management System compliance. To apply for the extension, the locality's Chief Administrative Officer must submit a corrective action plan to VDEM no later than Aug. 30. If granted, the extension will allow the locality until Jan. 28, 2008 to meet all NIMS Tier 1 requirements of the FY07 Homeland Security Grant Program.

VDEM recently sent letters to each CAO with a one-page NIMS compliance checklist that will assess a locality's ability to meet the requirements on time. Although the checklist was due by July 1, later submissions will be accepted and VDEM will follow up with localities prior to the Sept. 30 deadline. For more information, contact Cheryl Adkins at (804) 897-6500 ext. 6597 or cheryl.adkins@vdem.virginia.gov, or contact Bill Lawson at ext. 6604 or william.lawson@vdem.virginia.gov.

Incident Command System training timelines
Local emergency response personnel are not required to complete ICS 300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents and ICS 400: Advanced Incident Command System by Sept. 30. Under FY07 Homeland Security Grant Program requirements relating to the National Incident Management System, both are Tier 2 items and are not subject to the Sept. 30 deadline. Each locality is expected, however, to have in place by Sept. 30 a comprehensive plan for meeting these training requirements in the future.

In addition, localities should carefully review the requirements to identify which personnel need to complete these classes. In most localities, the number of individuals who need to complete this training (especially ICS 400) is a very small group of senior response personnel who will operate at the incident commander level in an area command scenario. For most response personnel, completion of ICS 200 will meet the NIMS compliance requirements for single resource supervisors in most public safety response scenarios. If you have questions regarding these training requirements, please consult the NIMS section of the VDEM Web site athttp://www.vaemergency.com/programs/nims/index.cfm.

Red Cross launches blog site
During major disasters, the American Red Cross will open an online media resource center that uses blogs, or Web logs. The blogs will allow the ARC to disseminate valuable information to news operations across the country, to help clients find the services it provides, to help donors know more about response efforts and to provide a comprehensive collection of official disaster communications.

Each new disaster will have its own page that provides downloadable news releases, sound files, pictures and video clips when available. Only links to official American Red Cross communications outlets will be included.

View the new ARC blog site at http://redcross.wordpress.com.

Incident Resource Inventory System
The Incident Resource Inventory System is a free, browser-based database management tool, developed within the framework of the National Incident Management System. It is available to federal, state and local officials to assist in meeting the NIMS compliance requirement for inventorying FEMA-approved typed resources. IRIS can help to:

• Identify available emergency-oriented resources during day-to-day and disaster operations.
• Inventory and type resources in accordance with NIMS protocols while helping to identify available resources to support emergency response operations.
• Create typing resources not currently included in the FEMA 120 and inventory them.
• Provide the ability to exchange data with adjoining communities or across disciplines.

IRIS will be rolled out to the emergency response community in phases. Phase one will provide the basic database management tool to enter a community's 120 typed resources into a common database, which can be shared nationally and housed locally. Future system functionality will assist in placing and mobilizing resource requests, GPS tracking of resources and resource recovery.

Download the software from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Web site at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/rm/iris.shtm.

FEMA's National Advisory Council members announced
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced the membership of the National Advisory Council. The council advises FEMA leadership on all aspects of preparedness and emergency management to ensure close coordination with its partners across the country.

Specifically, the council will focus attention on the development and revision of the national preparedness goal, the national preparedness system, the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan and other related plans and strategies. The council is a result of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, and its members are appointed by the administrator to represent a geographic and significant cross section of officials from emergency management and law enforcement.

The council intends to hold quarterly meetings each year. Pending final approval of disclosure forms that must by law be submitted by certain appointees, the first meeting is expected to be convened this fall.

View the full list of 30 appointees at http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=37154.

SBA small business preparedness workshops
The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering a workshop to small businesses and individuals in the Richmond area to help them prepare for the destruction hurricanes and other disasters can cause. The workshop is Friday, July 13, at 10 a.m., at the American Red Cross Greater Richmond Chapter. The workshop is free.

The SBA will conduct similar workshops in other parts of Virginia if interest is sufficient. If you would like this workshop in your area, call Peggy FaJohn at the SBA at (804) 771-2400, x126, or e-mail her at Margaret.fajohn@sba.gov.

Conferences...
All Hazards Forum
The fourth annual All Hazards Forum will take place Nov. 6-8 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore. More than 800 state and local government, private sector, university and nonprofit organizations will discuss regional preparedness for natural and man-made disasters. Attendees will represent Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C.

Conference information will be available online at http://www.allhazardsforum.com/downloads/AHFpostcardFINAL.pdf.

2007 Virginia Interoperable Communications Conference
This year's Virginia Interoperable Communications Conference will be Sept. 27-28 at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center in Roanoke.

Conference information is available online on the Interoperability in Virginia Web site at http://www.interoperability.virginia.gov/Conferences/2007Conference.cfm. The Governor's Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, the State Interoperability Executive Committee and the Advisory Group are now developing the agenda.

Produced by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management
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