YORK COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
MARCH EMA HAPPENINGS
2010
The winter has been interesting to say the least. Now the February Storm 2010 has given us a huge strike, which has caused much damage to our County and others. Our local directors and responders in concert with CMP and Kennebunk Light and Power were pushed to the limit to deal with the incident. YCEMA opened on Thursday morning and remained open until 22:00 hours Monday evening. As usual, our staff did an excellent job in providing assistance to the local communities to insure citizens were taken care of in an efficient manner. Let me extend a big thank you to all involved. As normal, everyone went the extra mile to make it happen. We opened two shelters, provided care for several pets at the Animal Welfare Society and had busses on stand by to transport residents to shelters. CMP brought in crews from many areas outside New England. We had the pleasure of a visit from Governor Baldacci and Sarah Burns who is the President of CMP on Sunday. They toured the area and got a first hand view of the damage and met with local officials. We appreciate the efforts of these folks who took a real interest in our situation. Now the initial damage assessments are in and FEMA has arrived to conduct the official preliminary damage assessment. If the assessments hold up, then the Governor will write a letter requesting a Federal Declaration for Public Assistance. We will wait and see.
York County EMA is in the process of setting up an After Action Review for our local officials and local EMA directors in the next few weeks. You will be advised of the location and date as soon as we can finalize details. We hope you made notes and will come to assist us in making our future responses even more effective.
Have you marked you calendar for Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:30 to 8:30 when Alana Buck of MEMA will conduct a class at the YCEMA EOC on WebEOC for local directors and staff members. Now is the time to learn this great tool to be used during an incident. It will make your task easier in the long haul. Plan on attending and please let us know you will be attending so we have a head count. If you have a laptop with wireless capability, then bring it. This is a one time opportunity.
We are offering an ICS-400 course at the EOC on April 10 & 11. If you or any of your town officials need this course, now is the time to take it. You must have taken the ICS-300 prior to taking this course. If you have any questions, please call Steve Harding or Bob at the office. Please sign up if you plan to take the course so we can have the necessary course materials on hand.
Take note of the opportunity to attend the Maine Preparedness Conference at the
Augusta Civic Center on April 29 and 30th. Admission is free to all who register before the attendance limit is reached. You can attend one day or both days. The schedule is attached to this newsletter for your review. It is packed with interesting and helpful topics. Plan on joining us in Augusta.
On Saturday, March 6th YCEMA completed the first required classroom course for the Maine Basic Emergency Management Level 2. We will offer the second course G-703 in May. Dates will be announced soon. If you need this course, sign up now. If we get ten individuals, the course will be a go.
Dave Francoeur will be contacting each community to ask you to review the critical facilities in your community and to rank the priority of each for restoration for power and debris after an event. This will assist our office and utilities in planning the response to an incident. We will be following the U.S. Department of Homeland Security process. This process will also put it in a format that will satisfy those needs as well. Please plan to support Dave when he contacts you.
Do you have citizens that want to take a Community Emergency Response Team course? Well now you have an opportunity to get them in a class. Pam L’Heureux will be conducting a complete course at YCEMA commencing Saturday, March 20 from 8-4, Thursday and Friday evening March 25 and 26 from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday, March 27 from 8-4. Please contact the office to sign up. CERT is valuable for all communities and for assistance in your EOC.
This month we are pleased to have two key presenters. Both have outstanding programs for us. Gary Utgard is one of our own and will present his experience in Haiti during the recent earthquake. Gary provided medical support in an area for impacted citizens. You all respond to incidents, but none of us have ever been involved in this type event with the issues that Gary faced. There will be a lot of insight gained by his presentation.
Our second presenter is no stranger to YCEMA. General John W. (Bill) Libby, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Military, Veterans Affairs and Emergency Management will present an overview of the FEMA National Advisory Council with respect to how it impacts you the local director in Maine. Bill has been a member of the Council for the past three years and has a great story to tell about the actions of the Council. We are very lucky to have a representative from Maine with the emergency management knowledge that Bill has. We tend to think these national groups have no impact on our activity, but we are incorrect as they do and we need to follow their actions.
Plan on making this a must attend meeting Wednesday, March 17, 2010 commencing at 19:00 hours and ending at 21:00 hours. Bring an associate or local official as they will gain a lot of information.
Lori will have the snacks on hand; as we are sure there will be lots to discuss after the meeting over coffee and cookies.
Please join us and welcome our speakers.
Bob Bohlmann, Director
RECAP OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Ø February Storm 2010 After Action Review; TBA
Ø March 17, 2010; York County Local Directors/Staff Meeting 19:00-21:00
Ø Community Emergency Response Team; YCEMA
(need to attend all sessions for credit)
Saturday, March 20 from 8-4
Thursday and Friday evening March 25 and 26 from 6-8 p.m.
Saturday, March 27 from 8-4
Ø March 24, 2010; Wednesday, WebEOC Class; 18:30 to 20:30
Ø April 10 & 11, 2010; ICS-400; YCEMA EOC 08:00-16:00
Ø April 29 and 30; Maine Preparedness Conference, Augusta Civic Center
Ø May TBA; Course G-703 for the Maine Basic Emergency Management Level 2
Local EMA Directors’/Staff Meeting
Date: Wednesday, 3/17/2010
Location: YCEMA, 5 Swetts Bridge Road, Alfred
Time: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
