Colorado DEM Information Report

CEMA Annual Emergency Manager Awards

The CEMA Awards Committee is requesting nominations for our 2008 All Hazards Region Emergency Manager of the Year.

We want to recognize an Emergency Manager of the year for each of the nine All Hazard Emergency Management Regions. As before two nominators are required. A letter of nomination stating the reasons for the recognition, sent to the awards committee chair Steve Blois at steve.blois@greeleygov.com or Stacey Davis at sdavis@ci.firestone.co.us.

These individuals by their dedication to the profession should be recognized and thanked. Many individuals in the organization deserve such recognition but unless they are nominated by their peers they will remain unsung heroes.

Nominations deadline: EXTENDED: January 28, 2008.

National Response Framework

On January 22, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security released the final version of the National Response Framework (NRF), which replaces the 2004 National Response Plan. The NRF can be found at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/. The fifteen Emergency Support Function, ten Supporting, and seven incident annexes can be found along with task books, presentations, glossaries, etc. As a result of this new document, any changes that will affect the State of Colorado will be incorporated into the State’s Emergency Operations Plan (http://www.dola.colorado.gov/dem/operations/seop2007/seop_2007.htm) in Sep-Oct 2008 when its annual review occurs.

Colorado Governor's Emergency Management Conference

The Colorado Governor's Emergency Management Conference will be held on February 26 -28, 2008, at The Inverness Hotel and Conference Center in Englewood, Colorado. The deadline for making overnight accommodations is February 3. You can make these reservations by calling the hotel at 800-346-4891 and mentioning you are with the Colorado Governor's Conference for government rates. The agenda, registration, and more information can be found on our website at http://www.dola.colorado.gov/dem/

Emergency Preparedness Guide for People with Disabilities/Special Needs

Developed jointly by Emergency Management Ontario and the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, this guide is the most comprehensive emergency preparedness resource for people with disabilities and special needs in Canada. It provides vital information to the over 1.5 million Ontarians with visible and/or non-visible disabilities and builds on important lessons learned during disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Another unique feature of this guide is the valuable information on animal emergency preparedness to help owners of service animals and/or pets prepare items in advance to keep their animals comfortable during an emergency situation.

Click here to link to the guide.

National Fire Academy Announces New Online Course

The U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA) National Fire Academy (NFA) announced the release of its newest online course, "Command & Control Decision Making at Multiple Alarm Incidents Self Study (Q297)." In early 2007, efforts began to redesign several of the NFA's resident courses using a blended learning format, whereby a portion of the newly revised course is available online. One of the first courses available under this new format is the "Command & Control Decision Making at Multi-Alarm Incidents (R297) "course." This new self study course is the precourse assignment for the residential R297 course; however, anyone interested can enroll in the course.

This course and additional online courses are available through the NFA's online training site, NFA Online at www.nfaonline.dhs.gov. Students who successfully complete the courses have instant access to their NFA certificate of completion and transcript. Additional information on the USFA and the NFA is available at www.usfa.dhs.gov.

Incident Command System Forms, Plans & Position Checklists – One Day Workshop
February 22nd, 2007 Hosted by the South Central All Hazards Region
375 Printers Parkway, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Or
March 10th, 2007 Hosted at the HSAC North Arapahoe County Training Room
7770 E. Iliff Avenue, Unit “G” Denver, Colorado

Since the beginning of 2007, Homeland Security Analysis and Consulting (HSAC) contract instructors have been delivering the ICS Forms, Plans and Checklist workshop with great success. Participants have ranged from military installation commanders to public health leaders and some of the most progressive first responder leaders from Colorado’s largest municipalities. This workshop allows participants to work through a single custom all hazards scenario, which is based on the official DHS national planning scenarios. The workshop immerses the participants in the process of using, communicating and understanding the ICS forms, plans and, position checklists.

This workshop is based on and builds on the concepts of NIMS and the new all hazard curriculum and is instructed by state certified type III all hazard personnel that hold roster positions on formalized incident management teams. Although referred to as a workshop, the day is focused on the concepts of scenario based training as a building block to handling real world events. The Forms workshop in addition to using the 15 National Planning Scenarios from the Department of Homeland Security also ties directly to the Target Capabilities List and the Universal Task List. Lastly, the workshop in 2008 now features a computerized interactive classroom trainer component and custom scenario table for the most advanced student learning.

Click here for the flyer with registration information.

Financial Services Sector Releases Pandemic Flu Report

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection, and Homeland Security (FSSCC), and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC) released the results of the FBIIC/FSSCC Pandemic Flu Exercise of 2007, which was conducted between September 24 and October 12, 2007. The exercise was intended to specifically test the business continuity plans of the more than 2,700 participating organizations, and the subsequent results compare industry responses on issues including plans for the telecommuting, stockpiling equipment, and anti-virus medication. The full After-Action Report is available here.