EMERGENCY PLANNING

Emergency Planning
 
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INTRODUCTION

For decades, the ten municipalities in the state defined Housatonic Valley Planning Region have been prepared to respond to varied emergencies. Such preparation for emergency response is a core function of local government.

After 9/11 strengthening emergency response mechanisms became a national priority. It was determined nationally that more regional planning could assist local effort, in that investments would be more cost-effective and resources could be more readily shared.

In Connecticut, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) added a regional focus. And as part of this new view, the DEMHS sebssection (Division of Emergendy Management and Homeland Security) of DESPP has been partnering with HVCEO and other regional planning organizations to strengthen emergency response.

The purpose of this summary is to enable local officials and the public to more easily understand and make use of emergency planning resources.

Maps relative to emergency management planning:

Reports relative to emergency management planning:

1. DESPP REGIONAL PLANNING

DESPP has divided Connecticut into five emergency planning regions. To take the lead in its forty three town “Region 5” subdistrict for northwestern Connecticut (Greater Danbury, Greater Waterbury, Greater Torrington and Northwest Corner rural), DESPP assembled a planning and coordination leadership group.

Its official title is the “DESPP Region 5 Regional Emergency Planning Team.” A key task of the Planning Team has been to prepare the Regional Emergency Support Plan for DESPP Region 5.

Importantly, funding priorities specified in the DESPP Region 5 Emergency Operations Plan are tied to federal grants from the US Department of Homeland Security. Selection will now favor projects with regional aspects that achieve economies of scale.

There is considerable local influence over the DESPP 5 planning process, as the 43 chief elected officials within Region 5 are the voting members of the Planning Team, approving regional recommendations to DESPP headquarters as to how grants should be distributed.

But these chief elected officials will not be expected to meet frequently. Rather, the detailed plan preparation work will be the responsibility of a smaller Steering Committee that will meet monthly. The Chair of the Steering Committee is Fire Chief John Field of Torrington.

The Steering Committee includes two HVCEO appointees, HVCEO Deputy Director David Hannon and Ridgefield Emergency Management Director Heather Burford, who is also Chief of the Fire Department in Ridgefield.

Other Steering Committee members from the Housatonic Valley Region are ESF 5 Chair Danbury Emergency Management Director Paul Estefan and ESF Chair 13 Brookfield Police Chief Robin Montgomery.

"ESF" as used above is a key acronym in this process. The DESPP 5 planning process includes a variety of functional area working groups, organized around “emergency support function” terminology, a national standard for all EOPs in all jurisdictions. There are fifteen nationally defined emergency support functions (ESF).

Due to its dominance in the emergency planning field this terminology is worth becoming familiar with. Importantly, the DESPP 5 spending plan for setting grant priorities will be organized on an ESF by ESF basis.

Of the fifteen national ESF's ten will be activated for the upcoming DESP 5 regional planning process. The nine chairs of these ESF’s are also part of the work oriented Steering Committee.

ESF 1 - Transportation
ESF 2 - Communications
ESF 3 - Public Works and Engineering
ESF 4 - Firefighting
ESF 5 - Emergency Management
ESF 6 - Mass Care, Housing and Human Services
ESF 7 - Resource Support (not yet activated)
ESF 8 - Public Health and Medical Services
ESF 9 - Resource Support (not yet activated)
ESF 10 - Oil and Hazardous Materials
ESF 11 - Agriculture and Natural Resources
ESF 12 - Energy (not yet activated)
ESF 13 - Public Safety and Security
ESF 14 - Long term Recovery (not yet activated)
ESF 15 - External Affairs (not yet activated)

2. MUNICIPAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT DIRECTORS

Each municipality in the state has an emergency management director. This position, paid or volunteer, is accompanied by a local emergency planning committee (LEPC).

Emergency management directors in the HVCEO area and the location of their emergency operations center (EOC), are as follows:

As with the new DESPP regional emergency operations plan described above, each municipality prepares a local EOP. The standard fifteen emergency support functions (ESF) defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Response Framework will become the organizational structure for local EOP's.

In pursuit of their mutual interests with neighboring towns, in 2007 the ten local emergency management directors purchased and installed in each municipality technically compatible and coordinated video conferencing equipment. This modernization project was proposed by the Mayor of Danbury in 2004 and endorsed by the HVCEO.

The new video communications system is used to coordinate local emergency activities prior to, during and following major emergencies requiring an intermunicipal response. This equipment will also facilitate local participation on "live" internet based emergency management training courses.

With this system the nature of a disaster as captured on photos can be seen by all. Maps of projected airborne or waterborne chemical plumes and fallout can be quickly shared. Municipal officials can better coordinate during extreme weather or transportation emergencies such as a prolonged shutdown of Interstate 84.

3. PUBLIC HEALTH
EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE

Health departments serving our ten town area have been meeting monthly since July of 2004 at the HVCEO office. Their purpose is to advance and coordinate emergency preparedness and response planning with a public health component.

This activity is under the sponsorship and guidance of the CT Department of Health (CT DPH). Like CT DESPP, after 9/11 CT DPH added a regional focus to its emergency operations. These activities are now coordinated with DESPP.

The Chairman of this regional group is Newtown Health District's Director of Health Donna Culbert. The Vice Chairman is Ridgefield's Director of Health Edward Briggs.

A past focus of the group has been the preparation, in cooperation with CT DPH, of a “Public Health and Medical Services Regional Emergency Response Plan" for the area.

This document follows the structure of ESF 8 - Public Health and Medical Services, again demonstrating the interagency coordinating value of the standardized ESF terminology. This regional planning work remains active in 2008 and is now integrated into DESPP Region 5 ESF 8 emergency response planning.

Some important documents relevant to this group:

  1. During 2006 all ten municipalities approved a regional mutual aid agreement for public health emergencies. The purpose was to better address threats that could overwhelm one municipality. The municipal resource inventories that are part of this mutual aid agreement, identifying the items to potentially share, are updated each year.
  2. In January of 2008 the Committee made a PowerPoint presentation to members of the Connecticut General Assembly. Activities and accomplishments of the group were summarized. This informative presentation is accessible as a pdf file.
  3. A record of the regional pandemic drill of April 2008, using the Region's new mobile field hospital, is available as a video file.

All ten municipalities approved this regional agreement during the summer of 2006. The municipal resource inventories that are part of this mutual aid agreement, identifying the items to potentially share, are updated each year.

A recurring theme at monthly meetings of the Public Health Emergency Planning Committee is collaborative planning for regional drills and exercises to test and evaluate the effectiveness of emergency response plans. Developing a coordinated plan for alternative care facilities within the HVR as a component of hospital surge capacity planning is another important activity.

These monthly meetings include discussion of numerous topics of joint interest, such as inter-jurisdictional public health emergency training in such areas as incident command, crisis and emergency risk communication, and hot line management.

4. NORTHWEST CT
HAZMAT SERVICE PLANNING

A steering committee for Northwest Connecticut on this subject, known as the Northwest Regional Hazmat Response Team Advisory Board, has formed under the leadership of Torrington Fire Chief John Fields.

The goal is to coordinate and upgrade HAZMAT response from 42 municipalities by logical subarea, including the Greater Danbury - New Milford Area as one of the units. HVCEO appointees Mr. Richard Moss of Bethel and John Mangin of New Milford are participating.

HVCEO is serving as fiduciary for a state planning grant to this group which has engaged Robert Tomlinson as its planning consultant.

5. HOUSATONIC VALLEY
COUNCIL OF ELECTED OFFICIALS

HVCEO also helps to coordinate the regional emergency planning efforts above. Specific activities include:

  • Reviews in 2003 of municipal emergency operations plans for conformance with federal emergency plan standards. A new terrorism annex for each was also created.
  • Since mid-2004 the Council has served as administrative agent for the finances and contracted consulting services of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Planning Committee.
  • In 2005 the Council published a laminated emergency operations field guide tailored to each community.
  • In 2006 it prepared the technical research report from which the health emergency mutual aid pact was formulated.
  • Since mid-2006 state-local coordination has been enhanced by including on every HVCEO meeting agenda an oral report by the DEMHS Region 5 coordinator.

 

 

 

 
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