Multnomah County Emergency Management Monthly Newsletter
Sept/Oct 2022
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Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management (MCEM) compiles this monthly email to provide information related to emergency management activities. If you have content for this newsletter, please submit to em.dutyofficer@multco.us.
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MCEM Director's Statement |
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Multnomah County Emergency Management has continued to support both the COVID-19 response and a significant increase in our support for shelter operations. Despite these continued responses, I see the next 12 months as critical for the future of the Office as we return to a new normal. With additional staff being added to the team and a return to some of our regular programmatic work, I expect significant changes and improvements to our Office. We have several training courses being offered including numerous Incident Command System (ICS) offerings. We have also seen a significant uptick in exercises, both regionally and county hosted. We are also taking on several long term planning projects while continuing logistics support for COVID to many of our underserved communities. |
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I think the most significant changes to a new normal will happen as we do more engagement with our partners in a new hybrid and virtual environment. I also see us shifting some resources to addressing many of the after-action items identified after almost 2.5 years of responding. It has been exciting to see new team members working well with each other and that will also be key as we spend time cross-training staff to be able to support multiple roles when we do need to respond. Lastly, I want to thank everyone both in Emergency Management as well as our partner organizations and look forward to ensuring a better work / life balance as hopefully we see some of the responsibilities of the COVID-19 response wane.
Chris Voss, MCEM Director
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Preparing the Pump: County Fuel Management Exercise AAR-IP |
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Multnomah County hosted a tabletop exercise event over the summer to test the recently released Version 1 of the County Fuel Management Plan. This hybrid tabletop exercise event had approximately 30 participants from 18 different departments/organizations.
Following this event, the Exercise Planning Team developed an After-Action Report and Improvement Plan ( Link) to guide the anticipated next steps. Next steps are likely to include:
- Next Steps Partner Discussion in Fall 2022.
- Fuel Advisory Committee Initial Meeting in Early 2023.
- Fuel Point of Distribution Drill in Summer 2023.
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1Q23 County Training & Exercise Compendium
Multnomah County EM is releasing our first quarterly Training and Exercise Compendium ( Link) that provides an overview of the events taken place between July 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022 and shares the anticipated events for next quarter. This document can be found on the MCEM Training and Exercise Page. |
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Logistics Section Update
The Logistics Section welcomed the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) Supply Center to the warehouse. JOHS has moved in temporarily after leaving a space downtown Portland that was too small for the amount outreach materials and supplies they support. Multnomah County has held a large amount of JOHS materials and worked with Distribution Services to move pallets as needed to the JOHS center. The Warehouse Team will receive, manage and, distribute JOHS material from the Logistics Warehouse.
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MCEM is pleased to introduce our newest team member, Yvette Osborne. Yvette has joined the Planning Division as an Emergency Management Planner.
Yvette recently completed a Master’s degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Military University, and is an active member of the Military (Army National Guard and Reserves). Her involvement with disaster recovery has spanned 14 years, including membership with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT). She is excited to work in this capacity at the county level to assist her community.
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Water Filtration Practice |
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Multnomah County Emergency Management staff and partners from Multnomah County Human Services, Portland State University (PSU), and the Port of Portland met at the Oak Savanna on the PSU campus in September to learn how to use the DIVVY water filtration system. The DIVVY system is a human-powered pump and tank system that can be used during a major disaster when drinking water supplies have been disrupted and there is no power. Each three tank system can purify as much as 750 gallons of water per hour.
Gary Cruikshank from Aquamira, the system manufacturer, was on site to provide expert instruction and offer tips for setup, use, and storage. More information about the systems can be found on Aquamira’s website.
Five of these systems were purchased by Multnomah County Emergency Management through a State Homeland Security Grant, to be distributed to possible mass shelter sites where people may be cut off from post-disaster resource support. Systems have already been located at Portland State University and at the Portland International Airport, and additional systems are planned to be placed in the future in Sauvie Island and Corbett. The final system will be retained by MCEM. These systems are part of a coordinated shelter strategy identified via Multnomah County's Mass Shelter Plan.
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Photo: Alice Busch of MCEM humorously tries out the pump system as MCEM Logs Lead Matt Burke looks on. The DIVVY system is designed to be easy to pump on a level surface and a 250 gallon tank can be filled from an external water source in 20-30 minutes by two people taking turns. |
Additional trainings will be scheduled to maintain knowledge of system set-up and use and to expand the learning to more of those that may be required to operate these systems during a disaster. Much thanks to Gary for coming to Portland, and to all who attended.
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Upcoming Training & Exercises Events
Trainings
Exercises
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Virtual Earthquake Resilience Workshop (October 13): The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting a workshop open to representatives from water and wastewater utilities across Oregon, Washington and Northern California, as well as local, state and federal agencies and organizations involved in earthquake preparedness efforts in their community.
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Rapid Damage Assessment Exercise Full-Scale Exercise Event (October 20): The RDA-The First Look-Implementation Full-Scale Exercise is the third event in the 2022 Exercise Series. This event will implement the processes and procedures developed during the August 9 workshop event and validated during the August 31 tabletop. This six hour event will integrate partner RDA processes/expectations for submitting damage assessment information to Multnomah County, and test County EOC ability to receive and manage that information. Please reach out to Matt Burke (matthew.burke@multco.us) with any questions!
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Have something you'd like to include in one of our future newsletters? We'd love to hear from you! To have your upcoming trainings, exercises, events, or other announcements added, please email em.dutyofficer@multco.us.
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