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FEMA, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior are now accepting applications for members to the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized establishment of this commission, which was announced in December 2021. It will play a key role in recommending federal policies and strategies to more effectively prevent, mitigate, suppress and manage wildland fires including the rehabilitation of affected lands.
The commission is seeking volunteer members from diverse backgrounds, with a specific focus on members who represent non-federal interests as required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Members will commit to serve for the life of the commission, which is estimated to be a year and a half with the first meeting targeted for late spring 2022.
Read the full press release on FEMA.gov. For more information, visit the commission website or email wildlandfirecommission@usda.gov.
As spring weather marches in, the Ready Campaign reminds everyone, don’t rely on a lucky charm to be prepared for disasters that can happen anywhere and at any time.
Ready.gov released It’s Not Luck!, an annual springtime awareness effort inspired by St. Patrick’s Day to remind everyone that no one should rely on luck with it comes to being prepared for Spring weather impacts. The campaign contains a social media toolkit with safety and preparedness messages that you can use on your social media channels. You can either copy these messages directly or customize them to reach your audience.
Remember, the basic steps to being prepared:
- Have several ways to receive emergency alerts to be notified about disasters and emergencies in your area. Download the FEMA app and receive real-time alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations nationwide. Sign up for community alerts in your area.
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Make a plan so that you and your loved ones will know what to do in case of an emergency.
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Build a kit that will last for several days so that you can weather a storm.
Help us spread the word. Follow us on social media. For a list of our social media accounts, visit Social Media | Ready.gov.
Don't leave preparing for disasters to chance. To learn more, visit Ready.gov or Listo.gov today!
The threat of cyber-attacks requires collaboration among emergency managers, cyber professionals and other key stakeholders to build resilience and respond to cyber incidents. The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the national effort to understand, manage and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure.
Cyber incidents have the potential to disrupt essential services and may result from malicious attacks, natural disasters, human error or equipment failures. CISA connects partners in industry and government to each other and to resources, analyses and provides tools to help them build their own cyber, communications and physical security and resilience, all to help to ensure a secure and resilient infrastructure for the American people.
CISA’s Cyber Resource Hub includes information on cybersecurity services and assessments to build cyber resilience and identify associated risks. These services can help jurisdictions prioritize where to invest their efforts to strengthen and protect critical assets.
Jurisdictions should also consider the potential for disinformation campaigns as part of holistic risk management activities. Threat actors may use false, manipulated or misleading information to influence victims, cause confusion and undermine public trust. CISA’s Mis-, Dis-, and Malinformation Team provides resources to build resilience to MDM and foreign influence activities.
The following are priority cyber risk management best practices and guidance:
Funded by CISA, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center serves as a no-cost resource for situational awareness, best practices, information sharing and incident response for state, local, tribal and territorial government entities. State, local, tribal and territorial governments can join the analysis center at no cost and receive access to tools and resources such as cybersecurity advisories and alerts, mitigation and incident response resources and table-top exercises.
With nearly half of the agency’s staff being female, FEMA is proud to celebrate the month of March as Women’s History Month.
Deanne Criswell's appointment in as administrator in April 2021 marks the first time the agency has been led by a female administrator.
Criswell began her journey in emergency management as a firefighter during a time where the field started slowly opening up to women. At her entrance exam, she was told how unlikely she was to pass but rose to the challenge, finishing with high marks.
“By challenging ourselves and stepping outside of our comfort zones, women can help grow and represent diversity at all levels of leadership across the emergency management enterprise,” Criswell said. “This starts by envisioning ourselves as leaders and telling ourselves ‘you can and you must.’ The more we implement strategies to achieve diversity, the more effective we can be in reflecting the communities we serve.”
Approximately half of FEMA’s workforce is female, and from 2016 to 2021, FEMA increased the number of women in the agency by more than 6,700.
In addition to FEMA’s highest-ranking position, many other leadership posts are held by women in our agency. Nearly 46% of supervisors and managers in the agency are women. These leadership positions include roles in disaster response, which has historically been a male dominated discipline.
Visit the FEMA Blog to learn more about how FEMA is celebrating Women's History Month.
As a reminder, a big change is coming soon that affects grant applicants and recipients using FEMA grants management systems.
By April 4, the federal government will stop using the Dun & Bradstreet number (DUNS) to uniquely identify entities registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). At that point, entities doing business with the federal government will use a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) created in SAM.gov. They will no longer have to go to a third-party website such as DUNS to obtain their identifier.
GSA will host a forum at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 23 to demonstrate what the change to the new identifier means for those using FEMA grants management systems. GSA will cover how SAM.gov will look using the UEI and demonstrate upcoming changes to the registration and renewal process.
Register on GSA.gov if you’re interested in participating in the webinar.
How can applicants and recipients know if they already have a UEI?
- If applicants and recipients have an entity registration (even if their registration has expired), they already have a UEI. They can find it by signing into SAM.gov and selecting the entity management widget in their workspace or by signing in and searching entity information.
For more information about the transition, go to fsd.gov and select the “Help on UEI Transition” button.
Join FEMA and the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities for a webinar on "Innovation and Sustainability in Emergencies."
The webinar will take place at 4 p.m. ET on March 16 and will feature FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination Director Linda Mastandrea. The webinar will also feature a panel of representatives from state developmental disability councils that engaged in innovative partnerships with FEMA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administration for Community Living during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, the webinar will cover:
- New emergency management tools – including pop-up and mobile vaccination clinics.
- The Disability Information and Access Line.
- How federal agencies are working with state developmental disability councils to increase access to services for people with developmental disabilities.
Click here to register for the webinar. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email containing information to join the meeting. Captioning and American Sign Language interpretation will be available.
The elevation of 23 individual homes in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana has avoided approximately $5.2 million in losses from multiple hurricanes.
Loss avoidance studies conducted by FEMA confirmed the elevations saved $2.2 million in losses following Hurricane Isaac in 2012 and more than $3 million following Hurricane Ida in 2021. To read the loss avoidance study, visit FEMA.gov.
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Jefferson Parish and the state of Louisiana used $2.3 million through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to elevate the individual homes. The investment has saved approximately $2.23 for every $1 spent. None of the elevated properties sustained flood damage above the finished elevated floor and the losses avoided by elevating the homes were equal to 95% of the cost to elevate them.
Elevation projects like ones in Jefferson Parish have a typical effectiveness lasting 30 years. FEMA expects to see continued benefits over the next 20 years.
The studies demonstrate how federal, state and local funds to elevate properties provides a cost-effective long-term mitigation measure to reduce or prevent damage-and-repair cycles while also saving lives. While the losses avoided from a single storm event are significant, the cumulative benefits from multiple events over the lifetime of a project is substantial.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Department of Education Secretary Dr. Miguel Cardona and American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern read to 2nd and 3rd graders from Widewater Elementary School in Stafford, Virginia. The event took place at Washington, D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
“Starting preparedness and disaster education at a young age is critical to creating the ready and resilient nation we all strive for,” said Administrator Criswell. “Being prepared for a disaster starts at home. I encourage families to include their children in the appropriate stages of emergency planning. Free materials like “Prepare with Pedro” teach children about what to do before, during and after disasters and emergencies, which helps them feel prepared, not scared.”
Criswell and others read from the American Red Cross’s “Prepare with Pedro” book series in English and Spanish. The book series features Pedro the penguin, who joins his friends and learns how to be prepared for and take action during different disasters and emergencies like hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes.
This year, Pedro the penguin is celebrating his five-year-anniversary for educating children.
In 2021, FEMA and the American Red Cross jointly re-released the “Prepare with Pedro Disaster Activity Book” making it available in six languages, English, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese and in both simplified and traditional Chinese. The activity book is available to download in each language on FEMA’s Ready.gov.
FEMA released the National Qualification System Chemical Operations Support Specialist position documents.
During hazardous chemical preparedness or response operations, the Chemical Operations Support Specialist will identify and provide critical information to responders, key leaders and decision-makers.
The specialist will be a state and local subject matter expert with the ability to bridge together response and chemical knowledge to minimize the impact of a potential or actual incident involving the release of hazardous chemicals.
The position documents were developed with FEMA’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear office and representatives from state, local and academic chemical response stakeholders and practitioners.
FEMA is accepting applications for the next round of exercise assistance through its National Exercise Program. To be considered for the Spring 2022 round exercise assistance, submissions are due by April 1.
Instructions for how to submit a request for support are on FEMA.gov. For jurisdictions not ready to submit a request at this time, the National Exercise Program will hold additional exercise support rounds in fall 2022 and spring 2023.
The National Exercise Program is a two-year cycle of exercises across the nation that examine and validate capabilities in all preparedness mission areas. The National Exercise Program offers state, local, tribal and territorial jurisdictions no-cost assistance for exercise design, development, conduct and evaluation to validate capabilities across all mission areas.
For questions, contact the FEMA's National Exercise Division.
Federal funds are used to repair facilities that are damaged as the result of disasters, and in Puerto Rico, funds will be used to rebuild city halls all across the island damaged from Hurricane Maria and the 2020 earthquakes.
“City halls are the municipality’s calling card, and in many cases, structures of great historical value. Through these awards under two FEMA programs, we expect to impact 55 city halls,” said FEMA Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator, José G. Baquero.
To this end, the Municipality of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, was allocated nearly $5 million for its city hall facilities. Of these funds, over $3 million are earmarked for hazard mitigation measures designed to seal roofs and anchor air conditioning equipment.
In addition, under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, over $508,000 was designated to the Municipality of Moca for the rehabilitation of its city hall and another allocation to the Municipality of Arroyo. The program funds are aimed at taking key measures to reduce the loss of life and property in the event of future disasters.
To read more about how FEMA is supporting communities before, during and after disasters, visit FEMA.gov.
 Pictured is the city hall in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, one of the 55 city halls that will be rebuilt.
FEMA Seeks New Members for National Advisory Council
FEMA is seeking qualified individuals to lend their expertise and serve on the agency’s National Advisory Council.
If you are interested in applying to serve on the National Advisory Council, please follow the instructions found in the Federal Register for submitting an application package no later than midnight ET on March 31.
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FEMA Seeks Public Comment to Enhance the Agency’s Programs
As part of its commitment to advance equity in underserved communities, FEMA proposes collecting demographic information from applicants participating in certain FEMA programs.
The deadline to submit comments is March 28. Learn more and submit your comments on the Federal Register website.
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FEMA to Host Nonprofit Security Grant Program Webinars
FEMA is hosting a series of webinars for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Nonprofit Security Grant Program. These webinars are for all nonprofit organizations interested in learning more about the program and its priorities, eligibility and application process.
To register, click on your preferred session below:
- Meeting ID: 161 966 7216
- Password: FY22NSGP
Additional program information can be found on FEMA.gov. The vulnerability self-assessment tool, as well as other helpful safety and security information for nonprofits, can be found at the Hometown Security webpage at CISA.gov.
For questions regarding the webinars or to request special accommodations, contact FEMA-NSGP@fema.dhs.gov.
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FEMA Hosts National Resource Hub Webinars
FEMA will host a National Resource Hub webinar to walk users through OneResponder and its resources at 2 p.m. ET on March 22.
Advance registration is required due to space limitations. Register for the OneResponder and Course Equivalency Tool Introduction webinar on FEMA's Zoom webpage.
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FEMA Seeks Feedback on Resource Typing Definition
FEMA is seeking public feedback on a resource typing definition document. The 30-day national engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on April 1.
The national engagement period provides an opportunity for interested parties to comment on the draft document to ensure that it is relevant for all implementing partners. To provide comments on the draft, complete the feedback form on FEMA.gov and submit the form to fema-nims@fema.dhs.gov.
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