My fellow emergency managers, this is a long but important read…

Last week, our nation experienced yet another mass shooting, this one taking the lives of 19 innocent children and two teachers as they went about their normal school day. As I was getting my kindergartener ready for bed that night, I was overcome with sadness, anger, grief and frustration. As emergency managers, we work to protect communities from ALL hazards and reduce our shared risk. In Oregon, we experience floods, wildfires, ice storms and earthquakes, and we develop mitigation strategies, make recommendations to policymakers, and direct investments toward reducing loss of life from these events. We experience mass shootings but neglect to take those same actions.

While we recognize the work our state has taken over the last several legislative sessions to help keep Oregonians safe from gun violence—passing legislation that requires background checks for gun purchases, safe storage of firearms, prohibiting guns on public school grounds, allowing for the filing of extreme risk protection orders, and making investments in behavioral health—more is needed. Gun control is a lightning rod of a policy issue that’s caused so much divisiveness, while our collective inaction continues to cost lives. From an emergency management standpoint, we must strip away any specific political agenda or ideology and take action to reduce our risk from mass shootings as we do with other hazards.

Disasters are not natural. Disasters are the result of policy decisions, often how and where we build, and the investments we choose to make. Or not to make. A massacre like the Uvalde mass shooting is by every measure a disaster. So was Parkland, and Sandy Hook and Umpqua. It’s time for emergency managers to lead policy discussions about reducing this risk, one that has taken more lives than wildfires or flash floods or earthquakes in this country over the past 25 years. We need to advocate for policy change that reduces the risk of 19 beautiful little kids and their teachers being murdered in their classroom. Our mitigation strategies must expand to include changing policies and laws that allow such open access to weapons that take away so much.

Last week I asked our mitigation team to begin planning for how we can incorporate the risk of mass shooting events into our current update of the state hazard mitigation plan. This comes at a time when we are already working to expand that plan from a natural-hazards focus to one that encompasses human-caused and technical hazards. As we work to define this hazard and develop mitigation strategies, including policy options and legislative reform, we will engage with local, state and federal partners, advocacy organizations, and community groups that have been working in this space to mitigate against the hazard of mass shootings. I’m grateful for our proactive, forward-thinking team for taking on this challenge. This effort will inform potential investments and recommendations for policymakers to consider. I ask our local emergency managers to consider taking this same approach.

We must step beyond simply installing thicker doors or panic buttons or better locks; that’s setting up sandbags after the river has begun to flood its banks. We need to assess the entirety of the threat and make bold decisions to effect the changes we demand. We do this for other risks, hazards and threats to our communities. We must also do this for the threat of mass shootings. It is our responsibility. This is our charge.

Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.
Andrew Phelps, Director, Oregon Office of Emergency Management

Join the Oregon Office of Emergency Management for a 2022 wildfire season kickoff briefing from 8:30 a.m. to noon on June 1, available via Zoom. This overview will include wildfire risk, response, and recovery briefings from ESFs on commonly requested or new resources and capabilities to better serve Oregonians. It will also present a wildfire season outlook from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center and offer an update on wildfire recovery efforts.

FEMA will host a wildfire preparedness Zoom webinar from 2-3 p.m. on June 12. Join mitigation, recovery and community preparedness experts to learn what to do to reduce wildfire risk and how to proactively prepare. Register with FEMA in advance.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice published a 48-page document listing the 10 essential actions to improve school safety. In this report, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office’s School Safety Working Group identified 10 essential things schools, school districts and law enforcement agencies can do to mitigate and prevent school violence as well as to facilitate swift and effective law enforcement assistance when necessary. In light of recent events, considering these suggestions and adopting measures may make schools and children safer. Read the full report at COPS.USDOJ.gov.

Preparing for and training employees to cope with active threats and workplace violence should be a key piece of an organization's emergency action plan. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is hosting a 2-hour security webinar from noon-2 p.m. on Jun 9 to enhance awareness of, and response to, an active shooter incident. The webinar will provide awareness training that supports the development of emergency action planning capabilities. Register at Eventbrite. 

The National Association for Amateur Radio has outlined six preparedness activities taking place in the Pacific Northwest in June that need amateur radio support. Activities include a "Thunderbird and Whale 2022" (TW22) full-scale exercise June 9-19, presented by the National Tribal Emergency Management Council. Simulated situation reports will be collected from amateur radio stations and all radio amateurs are welcome to participate. Those interested should contact Frank Hutchison, AG7QP, ag7qp@arrl.net.

The Oregon Disaster Airlift Response Team (DART) is holding a “Whale Run 2022" (WR22) functional exercise June 18-19. Amateur radio support will track aircraft arrivals and departures and supply manifests, then pass along the information on Winlink. Contact Ralph Garono, KA8ZGM, ka8zgm@arrl.net for more information.

A recent fire evacuation exercise in Benton County brought together the city fire department, local and county police departments, and volunteers from the Corvallis Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Benton CERT. The third annual drill had preselected communities—involving over 11 neighborhoods and 192 vehicles—receive both Corvallis and Linn-Benton County alerts and leave for their assigned checkpoints at one of three levels, using predetermined evacuation routes. Participants then shared their experience with public safety officials. Several lessons were learned, including the importance of getting more residents involved in future drills; why community members should sign up for both Corvallis and Linn-Benton alert systems; and educating participants on the technology involved to take part in the drill and follow-up survey. Corvallis Fire Emergency Manager Dave Busby said the exercise was a great way to get community members aware of the process of evacuation in a safe learning environment. Read the full story on the event, including participant experiences, in the Corvallis Advocate.