April 9, 2008
The Virginia Fusion Center won an Award of Excellence at the Second Annual National Fusion Center Conference held in March in San Francisco. The award recognizes achievements related to the 2007 Virginia Tech Shooting in outstanding collaboration and information sharing. The annual conference seeks to foster a seamless network of fusion centers across the country. Topics included governance and administrative aspects of fusion centers; handling suspicious activity and incident reports; threats, alerts and notifications; and situational reporting.
The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, DOJ's Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of the Program Manager, Information Sharing Environment jointly sponsor the conference.
Amateur Radio Communications Auxiliary
VDEM has organized a new emergency resource called the Amateur Radio Communications Auxiliary, or ARCA. ARCA will ensure that the Commonwealth has a group of licensed amateur radio communications systems operators who will be available to provide backup communications for the Commonwealth during an emergency. ARCA members will bridge the gap in communications between the Virginia Emergency Operations Center and its stakeholders, including local, state and federal partners in the event that primary communications systems go down.
For more information about ARCA, contact VDEM Amateur Radio Liaison Terry Hebert at Terry.Hebert@vdem.virginia.gov or at (804) 371-4507.
State Preparedness Report submitted
VDEM and the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness finalized and submitted the State Preparedness Report to FEMA/DHS on March 31. VDEM and OCP held regional meetings with local emergency managers to discuss Virginia's current state of preparedness and to identify grant priorities for the next three to five years. The report includes the Commonwealth's capabilities and accomplishments, Virginia's plans to increase preparedness, estimates of future capabilities, and estimates of the total monetary and non-monetary resources needed to support all preparedness-related activities for a three-year period. Because FEMA might require edits or clarification, the document is still considered a draft. All states are required to update the plan every year.
2008 IFLOWS workshop
Local, state and federal personnel involved in the Integrated Flood Observation & Warning System are invited to the 2008 IFLOWS workshop in Blacksburg, April 23-24. The free workshop will bring together private and public sector stakeholders, discuss technical and programmatic issues, provide instruction for the effective use of IFLOWS for the protection of life and property, discuss available software and hardware products, new technologies and data collection tools, and the future of the program.
For more information, contact VDEM IFLOWS Chief Mark Slauter at Mark.Slauter@vdem.virginia.gov or (804) 674-2405.
New chemical and biological quick reference guides
The U.S. National Response Team Weapons of Mass Destruction Subcommittee has released 25 biological and chemical quick reference guides. Each guide includes information about the agent's characteristics, health effects, detection, sampling and disposal.
Chemical guides for Soman, Cyclosarin, Sulfur Mustard, VX, Tabun and Sarin are available in one file at http://www.nrt.org/Production/NRT/NRTWeb.nsf/AllPagesByTitle/P-HotTopicsandCurrentEvents?Opendocument.
Biological guides for Brucella Species; Botulinum Toxin; Bunyaviridae-Rift Valley Fever; Brazilian, Dengue, Argentine, Bolivian, Venezuelan, Glanders and Melioidosis, and Ebola and Marburg Hemorrhagic Fevers; Lassa Fever; Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus; Tick Borne Encephalitis; Smallpox; Tularemia; Anthrax; and Plague are available in one file at http://www.nrt.org/Production/NRT/NRTWeb.nsf/AllAttachmentsByTitle/A-975BiologicalQuickReferenceGuides/$File/Biological%20QRGs.pdf?OpenElement.
VEMC presentations available
VDEM has added a new section to its Web site that features the 2008 Virginia Emergency Management Conference, "It Can Happen Here," held March 11-14 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Approximately 350-400 public safety educators, emergency management professionals, first responder, Citizen Corps members and volunteers attended. VDEM and the Virginia Emergency Managers Association co-sponsor the annual conference.
Copies of most of the guest speakers' Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations, along with the agenda and a list of speakers are available at http://www.vaemergency.com/newsroom/events.
NIMS Higher Education Training
The Office of Emergency Planning at Northern Virginia Community College and VDEM are offering National Incident Management System training to the college's president, administrative council, business managers and emergency planning committee. NIMS training at the highest levels at an institution of higher education is vital to enhancing communication and coordination between a school, first responders and emergency managers in the region. The college is the largest institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth, with six campuses and two centers located in five Northern Virginia jurisdictions. It serves a student population of more than 60,000.
To learn more about this training, contact VDEM Region 7 Training and Exercise personnel at Donald.Amos@vdem.virginia.gov and Aldo.Davila@vdem.virginia.gov or Director of Emergency Planning for Northern Virginia Community College William Flagler Jr. at (703) 323-3079 or wflagler@nvcc.edu.
Training…
SWAT Team training
The Government Training Institute is offering 1, 2 and 3 level SWAT Team training, the first in the country to be approved by the Department of Homeland Security. This class deals specifically with the threat of terrorism in a CBRNE environment and is based on the NIMS SWAT Team Classifications. State and local law enforcement agencies can use DHS grant monies to pay for tuition, overtime, meals, lodging and associated backfill costs, if approved by their state's point of contact.
Detailed information is available for each level:
- Type 1 SWAT: http://www.gtitraining.org/courses_type1swat.htm
- Type 2 SWAT: http://www.gtitraining.org/courses_type2swat.htm
- Type 3 SWAT: http://www.gtitraining.org/courses_type3swat.htm
EM Update is the best way to communicate best practices and to get a heads up on issues that might affect you. Articles include case studies, cost/resource-saving local programs, examples of partnerships and regional cooperation and recognition of emergency managers who receive awards and honors in the field.
Please don't hesitate to contact the editor whenever you have a project that might benefit localities or want to highlight an important issue concerning Virginia's emergency response community. Contact Jolie Shank at (804) 897-6510 or by e-mail at pio@vdem.virginia.gov.
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