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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan announced $350 million in allocations for six competitive preparedness grant programs. These allocations, coupled with more than $1.3 billion in non-competitive grant funding (announced in April), total more than $1.7 billion in FY 2019 granted to assist states, local areas, tribal and territorial governments, nonprofit agencies, and the private sector with their preparedness efforts.
Since 2002, DHS has awarded more than $52 billion to these partners. Preparedness grants strengthen our nation’s ability to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies in support of the National Preparedness Goal and the National Preparedness System.
The 2019 preparedness grants focus on the nation’s highest risk areas, including urban areas that continue to face the most significant threats. Consistent with previous grant guidance, dedicated funding is provided for law enforcement and terrorism prevention activities throughout the country to prepare for, prevent, and respond to terrorism-related activity.
Competitive programs awarded Aug. 2: Port Security Grant Program ($100 million); Operation Stonegarden ($90 million), Transit Security Grant Program ($88 million), Nonprofit Security Grant Program ($60 million), Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program ($10 million), and Intercity Bus Security Grant Program ($2 million).
Further information on DHS’s preparedness grant programs is available on the DHS website and the FEMA website.
FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on Wednesday, Aug. 7. Beginning at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the test message will be sent to radio and television stations via FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).
This year’s test will evaluate the readiness of the national alerting capability in the absence of internet connectivity. Similar to regular monthly EAS tests, the Aug. 7 test will be approximately one minute long, with minor interruption of radio and television programing. Both the audio message and text crawl should be accessible to people with disabilities.
For further information about the test, please visit: the FEMA website.
FEMA released Planning Considerations: Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place: Guidance for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Partners. The document draws upon the collective experience of those partners to provide relevant concepts, principals, and guidance as a resource for emergency managers and planners.
Evacuation and shelter-in-place protective actions are prompted by a variety of threats and hazards. Incident-specific circumstances drive the relevant protective actions based on a community’s demographics, infrastructure, resources, authorities, and decision-making process.
Lessons learned from recent disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, have highlighted the value of enacting a zone-phased approach to evacuation and shelter-in-place, enabling jurisdictions to move as few people as necessary. Sheltering-in-place populations that are not directly in harm's way, rather than having them evacuate, can help jurisdictions reduce costs and resource requirements, and limit the negative impacts of evacuations, while promoting improved response and quicker re-entry and recovery.
FEMA’s National Integration Center is hosting a series of 60-minute webinars to discuss the document, related efforts, and answer participants’ questions. Webinars are open to the whole community. Advance registration is required. Real-time captioning will be available on the webinar. To register, click on your preferred webinar session from the list below:
• Webinar 1: Thursday, Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. EDT. Register: FEMA Adobe Connect
• Webinar 2: Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 10 a.m. EDT, Register: FEMA Adobe Connect
For more information, please contact: NPD-Planning@fema.dhs.gov
On Tuesday, August 13, The Natural Hazards Center, in partnership with FEMA, will host a one-hour webinar that will explore the goals and recommendations presented in the soon-to-be released National Mitigation Investment Strategy (NMIS).
The strategy advances mitigation investments to reduce risks posed by natural hazards (i.e. floods, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, earthquakes). A significant purpose of this investment strategy is to increase the nation’s resilience to natural hazards and limit the nation’s fiscal exposure to disaster losses.
The webinar will include discussion of the three recommended risk management goals:
- • Goal 1: Show How Mitigation Investments Reduce Risk
- • Goal 2: Coordinate Mitigation Investments to Reduce Risk
- • Goal 3: Make Mitigation Investment Standard Practice
Registration for this free webinar is required through The Natural Hazards Center. The webinar will be from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 13. Register here.
To learn more about the NMIS, and for updated information, please visit the FEMA website.
As part of the 2017 National Incident Management System (NIMS) update, FEMA released four revised courses in the Incident Command System (ICS) All-Hazards Position Specific curriculum:
- • E/L0958, NIMS ICS All-Hazards Operations Section Chief Course
- • E/L0960, NIMS ICS All-Hazards Division/ Group Supervisor Course
- • E/L0984, NIMS ICS All-Hazards Task Force/ Strike Team Leader Course
- • E/L0986, NIMS ICS All-Hazards Air Support Group Supervisor Course
FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) will host webinars highlighting the changes in the courses, instructor requirements, and future course releases. All times are Eastern and each webinar features the same content:
- • Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 11 a.m.
- • Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 3 p.m.
- • Thursday, Aug. 29 at 11 a.m.
- • Thursday, Aug. 29 at 2 p.m.
How to Participate:
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Register on FEMA Adobe Connect
- • NOTE: Please sign in as a guest using the following format: Last Name, First Name, ST (example: Patrick, Robert, NJ)
- • FEMA Teleconference: 1-800-320-4330, PIN 884976#
If you successfully completed a previous version of the courses, there is no FEMA requirement to take the revised version. However, because the revised courses contain new information based on the 2017 revised NIMS Document, you may find it informative to review the new version.
FEMA Hosts Webinar on Hurricane Michael Recovery Advisories
FEMA scheduled webinars to discuss recently-released Hurricane Michael Recovery Advisories. These Recovery Advisories assist various stakeholders in rebuilding more resiliently by providing design and construction guidance to help minimize damage from future storm events. The webinars are free and available to anyone interested in the topics and content.
• Aug. 7 from Noon to 1:45 p.m. ET
• Aug. 15 from Noon to 1:30 p.m. ET
Each webinar will be divided into two sessions and participants must register for each:
• Session 1: Successfully Retrofitting Buildings for Wind Resistance; suggested attendees include: building owners and operators, design professionals, contractors, and entities that fund retrofits.
• Session 2: Best Practices for Minimizing Wind and Water Infiltration Damage; suggested attendees include: building owners, operators, and managers; design professionals; building officials; contractors; and municipal building, and planning officials.
Register for the webinar here. Any questions about this webinar, please contact the FEMA Building Science Helpline at FEMA-Buildingsciencehelp@fema.dhs.gov.
 On this episode, the FEMA podcast speaks with leaders from Private Sector partners in Disasters, to examine best practices among all sectors coming out of recent disasters, and to discuss the opportunity for the private sector’s continued support to build a culture of resilience.
The FEMA podcast is an audio program series available to anyone interested in learning more about the Agency, hearing about innovation in the field of emergency management, and listening to stories about communities and individuals recovering after disasters.
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