BCAT Landing Page, BCAT Fact Sheets, Mutual Aid Fact Sheets

FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking (BCAT) now has a dedicated landing webpage on FEMA.gov. The page is a one-stop-shop featuring new products:

• The BCAT WebGIS Portal
• The annual BCAT Fact Sheets
• The Mutual Aid for Building Department (MABD) Fact Sheets
• The BCAT Glossary, which explains the methods and terminology of the BCAT effort

BCAT WebGIS Portal

The new features of the BCAT WebGIS Portal allow users to click on any incorporated jurisdiction or search for any census-recognized jurisdiction to view data on that jurisdiction's building and residential code adoption. You can find data on:

• Notes on which building codes a state or territory has adopted.
• Which hazard risks (flood, hurricane wind, damaging wind, tornado and seismic) exist in a jurisdiction by showing where the risks exist within the United States.
• An interstate mutual aid layer and an intrastate mutual aid layer allow users to view a state or territory's mutual aid laws.

BCAT Building Code Adoption Tracking Fact Sheets

The 2021 BCAT Fact Sheets are published and available for download. Each fact sheet provides a regional map that categorizes each state or territory in the region based on their amount of hazard-resistant versus non-resistant jurisdictions. A breakdown of whether each respective state or territory has adopted hazard-resistant codes or not is on the subsequent pages. The analysis provides specific details on the code adoptions and any hazard weakening amendments in each state and territory. These fact sheets are updated annually and published for each of the 10 FEMA regions.

MABD Mutual Aid for Building Development Fact Sheets

Following a disaster, local officials tasked with enforcing building codes and floodplain ordinances may need support in inspecting buildings, issuing permits and adequately administering building codes and floodplain ordinances.

To assist in these efforts and increase the overall recovery speed, communities may activate mutual aid arrangements to enable jurisdictions to share personnel for response and recovery. The arrangements will typically recognize responders' liability protections and credentials, licenses, and certifications from their home jurisdictions.

Section 1206 of the Disaster Recovery and Reform Act of 2018 supports this initiative by making Public Assistance funding available to reimburse these mutual aid responders for eligible work once cost-share requirements are met. FEMA Policy FP 204-079-01 outlines eligible work. To assist in spreading awareness of this, FEMA has recently released the MABD fact sheets, which are now available for download. The MABD fact sheets describe interstate mutual aid through Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) and the different types of intrastate mutual aid systems utilized in the United States. Each state and territory's mutual aid legislation varies in terms of legal protections and private sector recognition.