Colorado DEM Information Report
Centennial, Colorado May 9, 2008 Contact: Polly White 720-852-6630
Planning and Protecting Healthcare/Hospital Infrastructure and Personnel
DHS Grant Funded Pilot Course
Hosted by Weld County Public Health & Environment
12 hours Course: June 3 – 8 to5; June 4– 8 to noon
Description: The course brings together personnel from within jurisdiction who work in Hospitals and health facilities who are there to protect the infrastruture and those that must serve patients. Training brings in classroom learning, video presentations, and exercises to train participants on how to plan for, respond, recover and manage a large scale incident which impacts their system and or facility.
Topics: This course is designed to provide training to the target audience to assist them in preparing for, responding to and recovering from a WMD/CBRNE terrorism incident and other non terrorism hazards which impacts their facilities, systems and employees while providing care for the incident victims. Objectives are to:
Prerequisites: N/A
Audience
Incident Command System/Emergency Operations Center Interface Workshop
(ICS/EOC) G-191
June 24, 2008
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
What: The one day course goal is to understand more thoroughly the relationship between the on-scene Incident Command and the Emergency Operations Center. The word “interface” in the course implies communication, coordination and other relationships between field operations and the EOC.
Where: Hosted by the Union Colony Fire Rescue/Office of Emergency Management/ Weld County Office of Emergency Management
1104 H Street,
Weld County Sheriffs Office Training Center
Greeley
Register: www.dola.colorado.gov/dem/ Training 75-5 EZ form. This course is first come, first served.
Protections for Emergency Volunteers
On April 24, Governor Bill Ritter signed House Bill 1097 into law. The bill provides leave and job protection for volunteer emergency management, emergency services, and disaster workers under certain circumstances.
The bill goes into effect on the 91st day after the legislature adjourns, possibly August 6, 2008. The bill states that members of the Civil Air Patrol and other affiliated volunteer emergency workers who are requested to respond to a disaster emergency will be entitled to take leave for up to 15 working days each year. Private sector employees will be entitled to unpaid leave and government workers will be entitled to paid leave, and they are all protected against loss of job, seniority, retirement benefits, rank, etc. while on such leave.
In order to be qualified, any volunteer organization must be certified to the Colorado Division of Emergency Management (DEM) by a sheriff, local government, state agency, or by a local emergency planning committee. The certification request form will be available shortly on the DEM website. The certification includes that the organization and the sheriff or director of a local government, state agency or local emergency planning committee (LEPC) have developed and signed a memorandum of understanding covering use of the organization and its volunteers during disaster emergencies.
Once the organization is listed, a volunteer member will be protected when he/she performs satisfactorily in a disaster emergency at the request of a sheriff, local or state agency or LEPC and provides a certification of that from his or her own organization of the employing government. Such certification forms will be available shortly on the DEM web site. Although they may be eligible under this law as well, volunteer firefighters are provided job protection for fire calls under another statute. Red Cross volunteers eligible for disaster leave as state employees will be provided with a maximum total of 15 working days leave under this law and the Red Cross leave provisions.
No employer will be required to grant leave to more than 20% of his employees at any one time, and employees deemed essential to the employer’s operations and income or disaster services may likewise be denied leave.
The bill also removes some limitations on sovereign immunity protections to governments and volunteers within the Disaster Emergency Act.
If you have questions regarding this bill or the required procedures, call David Holm at 720-852-6613.
Prepared Newsletter Articles
Thanks to all of the folks who submitted articles for the last issue of the Prepared newsletter. For those who missed seeing the issue, click here to view it.
If you have lessons learned from exercises, real events, special activities, trainings, or something you feel will benefit our emergency management community, we want to hear about it. Please send all articles and ideas to Polly White (polly.white@state.co.us).
The deadline for input is July 25, 2008.
Thanks for your support!
Revised NIMS Available for Comment
The revised NIMS document is now available for a 30-day public comment period and can be accessed through the link provided below. FEMA recommends that comments be submitted on the form provided at www.regulations.gov so they can be formally documented for public record. The comment period closes on May 30, 2008.
FEMA indicates there are very few changes between the 2008 and 2007 versions of the NIMS document and most of those are intended to have NIMS reflect the new NRF. FEMA hopes to have the final document available in late July or early August. Click here to see the revised NIMS document.
H.R. 1333 would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Air Force to use Civil Air Patrol personnel and resources to support homeland security missions.
This course goal is to provide students with the knowledge to apply surveillance detection fundamentals and develop a surveillance detection plan. We accomplish this by teaching the surveillance detection planning process which consists of five elements:
The ultimate goal is for the students to take the knowledge and skills gained in this course back to their specific facilities and apply it to their situation and unique circumstances to develop a Surveillance Detection Plan for their facility.
Click here for the course flyer.
Private Sector Counterterrorism Awareness Workshop
Friday June 27, 2008
8:00 am – 4:30 pm
Aurora Police Training Academy
Quade Center
13328 E. Montview Boulevard
Aurora, CO 80010
This workshop is designed to improve the knowledge of private sector security managers and directors by providing exposure to key elements of soft target awareness, surveillance detection, and improvised explosive device (IED) recognition.
The workshop will provide the participants an opportunity to:
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.
Fire Restrictions & Bans
Our office will be tracking fire restrictions and bans for Colorado again this year. With the wildfires we expreienced last week, and with the number of Red Flag Warnings we've experienced over the past few weeks, it's imperative to keep the public updated.
So if your jurisdiction is implementing restrictions, please me me know: Polly White, 720-852-6630. Please know our information is sometimes only as good as your critical input!
We are currently showing restrictions in Baca, Cheyene, Crowley, Kiowa, Lincoln, and Otero Counties.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Click here for the fire information webpage.
Thought for the Day
"Aim for success, not perfection.
Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the
ability to learn new things and move forward with your life."
~Dr. David M. Burns