Title
Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) Report
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Receive a report on the recent Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) attended by City staff. Briefing only; no action requested.
Report
Issue:
Whether to receive a briefing on the weeklong emergency management training attended by the City of Olympia Emergency Management, staff from multiple departments, as well as Councilmember Renata Rollins and Assistant City Manager Jay Burney.
Staff Contact:
Patrick Knouff, Emergency Management Coordinator, 360.709.2068
Presenter(s):
Patrick Knouff, Emergency Management Coordinator, 360.709.2068
Background and Analysis:
The FEMA-sponsored Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) training is only available to a community about every 10 years. Thurston County, together with the other local jurisdictions including Olympia, have had the opportunity to attend these training programs together on the east coast (Maryland and Virginia). These FEMA trainings have all been valuable. This latest IEMC in February was held in Ocean Shores, (FEMA has changed to a local delivery rather than bringing jurisdictions to the east coast), conveniently located far enough away from the county to help the participants focus on Emergency Management and avoid trying to do double duty with their other day to day responsibilities.
Olympia members participated with about 80 others from around Thurston County to work through the process of recovering from a large disaster, such as a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Participants received instruction on the principles of “recovery” from FEMA experts and practiced using a Recovery Framework developed specifically for Thurston County jurisdictions. This IEMC report will overview the recovery process that was tested, detail which City of Olympia members participated in the training, describe the results and engage the council in future work being done by the local jurisdiction’s emergency managers to continue the development of a robust Recovery Framework.
At the end of the formal presentation Councilmember Rollins, Assistant City Manager Burney and other participants may also share their observations.
Attachments:
None