FEMA
and its partners released the updated National Planning
Frameworks for each mission area: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation,
Response, and Recovery. The National Planning Frameworks, which are part of the
National
Preparedness System, set the strategy and doctrine for building,
sustaining, and delivering the core capabilities identified in the National
Preparedness Goal of building a secure and resilient nation.
National preparedness is a shared
responsibility—everyone has a role to play to ensure that our nation can
address its greatest risks. FEMA supports the mission of strengthening the security and resilience
of the nation by working to improve the ability of all to manage incidents,
events and emergencies. The Frameworks do this by creating a shared
understanding about how we, as a nation, coordinate, share information, and
work together to achieve our missions, as well as define our roles and responsibilities
from the firehouse to the White House.
The updated National Planning Frameworks also
incorporate critical edits from the National Preparedness Goal refresh,
including updated core capabilities, lessons learned from real world events and
continuing implementation of the National Preparedness System, including an
increased emphasis on cyber threats, and updates on the roles and
responsibilities of coordinating structures in each mission area. The updated
Frameworks also align with new policies and directives, such as PPD-21, Critical
Infrastructure Security and Resilience, and Executive Order 13636, Improving
Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.
From June 21 to July 6, FEMA is hosting
a series of engagement webinars to highlight key changes to the Frameworks and to
answer questions participants may have. All webinars are open to individuals and communities, the private and nonprofit
sectors, faith-based organizations and all governments. For a
copy of the document, summary of changes and webinar registration information,
visit http://www.fema.gov/national-planning-frameworks.
For more information on national preparedness efforts, visit: http://www.fema.gov/national-preparedness.
On June 15, 2016, FEMA
posted the draft Individuals and Households Program (IHP) Unified Guidance (IHPUG) to
the Federal Register for public comment. FEMA strongly encourages the
public and emergency management community to submit comments. IHP is one of the most publicly recognizable FEMA program and this is
an excellent opportunity for the public to provide their input.
The IHPUG compiles FEMA
policy for each type of assistance under the IHP
into one comprehensive document and is intended to serve as a singular resource
for state, territorial and tribal governments, and other entities who assist
disaster survivors with post-disaster recovery. Once finalized, the IHPUG will
replace all stand-alone policies and policy statements currently located in
FEMA documents and standard operating procedures; catalogue lessons learned
from disaster operations and FEMA’s decisions as they relates to the IHP; and
increase consistency, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge.
The draft guidance is posted to the Federal
Register, and will be available for comment until August 1, 2016.
FEMA, in
coordination with state, local, and tribal emergency managers and state
broadcasters’ associations in North Carolina and Virginia will conduct a test
of the Emergency
Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday,
June 22 at 10:02 a.m. EDT.
The EAS test is made available to radio, broadcast
and cable television systems and is scheduled to last
approximately one minute and will verify the delivery and broadcast, and
assess the readiness for distribution of a national-level test message. The message of the test will be similar to the regular
monthly test message of EAS, normally heard and seen by the public: “This is a
national test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test.”
Public safety officials need to be sure that in times of an emergency or
disaster, they have the methods and systems that will deliver urgent alerts and
warnings to the public when needed.
This voluntary test has been rescheduled from
an earlier scheduled test that was canceled due to severe weather. Periodic
testing of public alert and warning systems is a way to assess the operational
readiness of the infrastructure required for the distribution of a national
message and determine what technological improvements need to be
addressed. The next national test is scheduled for September 28, 2016.
Results from this test will support preparations and improvements leading up to the
national test.
Receiving preparedness tips and timely information about
weather conditions or other emergency events can make all the difference in
knowing when to take action to be safe. FEMA and partners are working to ensure
you can receive alerts and warnings quickly through several different
technologies no matter where you are–at home, at school, at work or in the
community. The FEMA App, which can be downloaded on both Android and Apple
devices, is one way to ensure you receive both preparedness tips and weather
alerts of your choice. Download the FEMA
App
today.
More information on the
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System and Wireless Emergency
Alerts is available at www.fema.gov/ipaws or www.ready.gov/alerts.
Are
you prepared for a wildfire? To kick off the summer, FEMA’s Individual and
Community Preparedness Division invites you to a webinar on Thursday, June
23 from 2:00–3:00 p.m. EDT, which will feature an array of dynamic, nationwide programs and
resources to prepare individuals and communities for wildfires.
Titled
"Ember
Alert: Preparing for Wildfires", this webinar will feature presentations from:
•
Phyllis Krietz, United States Fire Administration, FEMA
•
Barbara Geringer, Fire Prevention, Mitigation, and Education
Program Manager, United States Forest Service
•
Mark Jackson, Branch of Wildland Fire Management, Bureau
of Indian Affairs
•
Cathy Prudhomme, National Fire Protection Association
•
Christi Collins, Individual and Community Preparedness
Division, FEMA
Please register for the event using the Adobe Connect registration web link. This
webinar will offer closed captioning.
FEMA’s National Emergency Management Basic
Academy is the entry point for individuals pursuing a career in emergency
management. The Basic Academy offers the tools to develop comprehensive foundational skills needed in emergency
management. For those who are new to
emergency management, the Basic Academy also provides a unique opportunity to
build camaraderie, to establish professional contacts, and to understand the
roles, responsibilities, and legal boundaries associated with emergency
management.
The Basic Academy curriculum consists of
five courses: Foundations of Emergency Management; Science of
Disaster; Planning: Emergency Operations; Exercise Design; and Public Information and Warning. Upcoming courses in the program are Science of Disaster, a three-day, 24-hour training being held August
8-10, followed by the Planning course, a two-day, 16-hour training
being offered August 11-12. Applications for both courses
are due by June 27. The courses will be delivered by the Emergency
Management Institute at FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center in
Emmitsburg, Maryland. For more information, visit the EMI website or send an email
to FEMA-EMPP-Basic-Academy@fema.dhs.gov. Note: courses
may be taken even when participants are not planning to receive a Basic Academy
certification.
The
Basic Academy is the first of a three-level Academy series in the Emergency
Management Professional Program (EMPP). The
EMPP curriculum is designed to provide a lifetime of learning for emergency
management professionals and includes three separate, but closely threaded,
training programs. The program builds from the Basic Academy to the National Emergency
Management Advanced Academy, a program to develop the next generation of
emergency management leaders who are trained in advanced concepts and issues,
advanced leadership and management, and critical thinking and problem solving. The EMPP culminates in the National Emergency Management Executive Academy, a
program designed to challenge and enhance the talents of the nation’s
emergency management senior executives through critical thinking, visionary
strategic planning, challenging conventional
concepts, and negotiation and conflict resolution applied to complex
real-world problems.
Emergency
management professionals should visit www.training.fema.gov/empp for more information
about which academy best suits their needs.
On July 21, 2016, FEMA Region III will host the third annual
Public-Private Sector Tabletop Exercise in Philadelphia,
PA, which will focus on cyber as the threat scenario. This full-day event will bring together members of the public and private sectors to educate and inform participants on contemporary cyber threats. Throughout the course of the day’s events, participants will be invited to
share best practices, information sharing methods, capabilities, resources, and
incident response plans for cyber attacks.
The exercise will include two scenarios. Scenario
1 will drive discussions on how entities respond to cyber
incidents impacting their own organizations and critical infrastructure (CI)
sectors. Scenario
2 will focus on regional response and recovery as a whole and how
communication and coordination are accomplished during a cyber attack, with a particular focus on communications, energy and retail CI sectors. For more information on this event or to register, click here.
EMI's Master Exercise Practitioner Program
The Master Exercise Practitioner Program application period is open until July 1, 2016. Participants in the program are assigned to an exercise
planning team where they are challenged to: demonstrate their expertise
at all levels of exercise design and conduct; and apply best practices and
lessons learned from their organizations and experience. Contact fema-emi-iemb@fema.dhs.gov for more information.
FEMA Extends Public Comment Period for Draft Public Assistance Required Minimum Standards
FEMA extended the comment
period for an additional 30 days on the draft Public Assistance Program
Minimum Standards replacement language for the Public Assistance (PA) Program
and Policy Guide. The minimum standards will be used for all buildings in tornado,
wind, seismic, and flood-prone areas identified in the IBC, regardless of the
type of incident that caused the damage.
As FEMA works to implement
the new standard for its PA program, it is requesting input on
the draft language from the public and emergency management community. The
draft language is posted to the Federal
Register, and will be available for comment until July 8, 2016.
FEMA Tribal Consultation Period on Hazard Mitigation Planning Continues Until July 8
FEMA is updating
its policy that guides how Agency officials interpret regulatory
requirements in their review and approval of tribal mitigation plans.
FEMA is seeking feedback from tribal
governments regarding this updated policy, “Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide.” Tribal officials’ suggestions and comments will inform
further development of the Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide.
Tribal officials can submit comments on the Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide: Key Concepts document until July 8, 2016, either by e-mail to tribalconsultation@fema.dhs.gov
or by mail to ATTN: Tyler Corson-Rikert, Federal Insurance and
Mitigation Administration, DHS/FEMA, 400 C Street SW, Suite 313,
Washington, DC 20472-3020. Visit FEMA’s Tribal Affairs web page for more information on the tribal consultation period for this policy.
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