What is FlaWARN
Florida's Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (FlaWARN) is the formalized system of "utilities helping utilities" to address mutual aid during emergency situations. These incidents may be man-made or natural disaster. The project's infrastructure consists of a secure web-based data bank of available resources and a practical
mutual aid agreement
designed to reduce bureaucratic red tape in times of emergency. The goal of FlaWARN is to provide immediate assistance, as quickly as possible, to impacted utilities by whatever means necessary until such time that a permanent solution to the devastation may be implemented. Click here for more information.
Your FlaWARN Steering Committee is making plans to assist you with your emergency needs. Just a reminder, FlaWARN does not pre-stage assets at utilities prior to landfall. As soon as you know what your needs will be, post on the FlaWARN website and we will help find resources.
Make sure you update your operational status in FDEP's StormTracker website. StormTracker is a way for Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to monitor the status of water and wastewater facilities after an emergency event. After the storm makes landfall, FlaWARN will post a notice in the event tracker detailing which counties are open in StormTracker. As soon as you are able, go in and update your status to one of the following: operational, partially operational or non-operational. When you post a need for assistance in StormTracker it is automatically transmitted to FlaWARN. If you do not know how to log into StormTracker contact your local DEP district staff for username/password. A manual on using StormTracker is on the "During an Event" section of the FlaWARN members' page.
http://stormtracker.dep.state.fl.us/default.asp
We ask that you please complete your rapid damage assessments before asking for assistance. If your utility does not have a damage assessment form, one is located on the FlaWARN Members site under "During an Event". For more information on storm preparation and recovery, an MS Word copy of the BMPs is also located on the members' site under "During an Event".
Just a reminder on how the Mutual Aid Agreement (MAA) works. The MAA is an agreement between a utility and FlaWARN. The MAA details in advance how things like reimbursement, liability, workers compensation and chain of command are handled. FlaWARN (along with FRWA) will attempt to meet all of our members needs but some utilities are only able to send assistance to FlaWARN members that have a signed MAA on file. This is a good time to see if you can get a MAA signed by your managers and/or decision makers. The form is located on the members' page.
Remember, you can reach out directly to other FlaWARN members or neighboring utilities that you have a good working relationship with. You can also request assistance through FlaWARN by posting on the website, requesting help through StormTracker, your local EOC or emailing
info@flawarn.org. Be sure to let us know if you are working directly with another member utility so we can include this in our reporting to DEP and Department of Emergency Management. If you are receiving resources through FlaWARN, make sure your local county EOC is aware what you will be receiving.
In the event FlaWARN members cannot handle all of the utility needs throughout Florida we will be reaching out to our surrounding state WARNs to get assistance via an EMAC. FlaWARN staff will be located at the state EOC to help our members with this process.
At the end of each day, we will be posting an update on needs and assistance on the event tracker. A conference call is scheduled for 11:00 AM EST on Monday, September 18 for those needing assistance or able to assist other utilities.
Just remember that hospitals, shelters, EMS, and other critical users can't function without us, the water and wastewater industry.