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FEMA seeks experienced individuals who
are interested in serving on the National Advisory Council (NAC) to apply. All
applications must be received by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, February 16, 2015.
The
NAC is a federal advisory committee established to ensure effective and ongoing
coordination of federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and
mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made
disasters. The NAC advises the FEMA Administrator on all aspects of emergency
management frameworks, strategies, and plans while incorporating the whole community’s
input through appointed NAC members.
FEMA
will consider individuals for appointment in the following disciplines:
- Elected
State Government Officials (one representative appointment)
- In-Patient
Medical Providers (one Special Government Employee appointment)
- Elected
Local Government Officials (one representative appointment)
- Emergency
Management (one representative appointment)
- Emergency
Response Providers (two representative appointments)
- Cyber
Security (one Special Government Employee appointment)
Appointments
are for three-year terms to end August 15, 2018. The Administrator may also
appoint additional candidates to serve as a FEMA Administrator Selection, which
are also for three-year terms.
Individuals
interested in serving on the NAC are invited to apply to be considered for
appointment by submitting a Cover Letter and a Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV)
to the Office of the NAC by email, mail, or fax, with email as the preferred
method of submission. Letters of recommendation may also be provided, but are
not required. The Cover Letter must include, at a minimum: the discipline
area(s) of interest; current position title and organization; mailing address;
a current telephone number; and email address. A complete application must be
submitted to be considered for appointment; application criteria, submission
information, and contact information can be found on the NAC webpage.
The NAC consists of up to 35 members,
all of whom are experts and leaders in their respective fields. The members of
the NAC are appointed by the FEMA Administrator and are composed of federal,
state, tribal, local, and private-sector leaders and subject matter experts in
law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services, hospital, public works,
emergency management, state and local governments, public health, emergency
response, standard settings and accrediting organizations, representatives of
individuals with disabilities, infrastructure protection, cyber security,
communications, and homeland security communities.
NAC
Members serve without compensation from the federal government; however,
consistent with the NAC Charter, members may receive travel reimbursement and
per diem under applicable federal travel regulations to attend meetings of the
NAC. Any individuals affiliated with DHS and/or FEMA through employment or
contracts will not be considered for NAC membership.
For
more information, visit www.fema.gov/national-advisory-council.
FEMA is participating in a Tornado
Safe Room Showcase at the National Association of Home Builders International
Builders’ Show, January 20-22, 2015, and the World of Concrete trade
show, February 3-6, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. During these events,
FEMA will promote the use of safe rooms for homes and small businesses.
Each demonstration will feature
full-sized safe rooms built to the construction plans provided in the new publication FEMA P-320,
"Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room for Your Home or
Small Business. FEMA staff will be on hand at both events to highlight the resilient
qualities desired in safe room construction. These safe room demonstrations
will be a collaborative effort of several industry associations, such as the
Portland Cement Association and Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.
Free copies of FEMA P-320, as well as other resources, will be available at
both events. A safe room built for a home or small business can provide
near-absolute protection for loved ones or employees from injury or death
caused by the dangerous forces of extreme winds such as tornadoes and
hurricanes. FEMA P-320 helps home or small business owners assess their risk
and determine the best type of safe room for their needs. It can be accessed and downloaded for free from the FEMA Library.
By educating people about basic fire
facts, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) is working to reduce fire
deaths.
There is little time. In less than 30
seconds, a small flame can get completely out of control and turn into a major
fire. In minutes, a house can be engulfed in flames. If woken up to a fire,
there won’t be time to grab belongings; fire spreads too quickly and the smoke
is too thick. There is only time to get out.
Heat is more
threatening than flames. A fire's heat alone can kill. Room temperatures in a fire
can be 100 degrees at floor level and rise to 600 degrees at eye level. If this
super-hot air is breathed in, it will scorch the lungs. It also has the ability
to melt clothes. In five minutes a room can get so hot that everything in it
catches on fire at once. This is called flashover.
Fire is pitch black. Fire starts bright,
but quickly produces black smoke. If woken up to a fire a person may be
blinded, disoriented and unable to find his or her way around the home he or
she has lived in for years.
Smoke and toxic gases
kill more people than flames do. Fire uses up the oxygen needed to breathe and
produces smoke and poisonous gases. Breathing even small amounts of smoke and
toxic gases can make people drowsy, disoriented and short of breath. The
odorless, colorless fumes can lull people into a deep sleep before the flames
reach the door, and people may not wake up in time to escape.
For more information about fire
safety, visit USFA's website at www.usfa.fema.gov.
To assist in achieving inclusive
emergency management practices, FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and
Coordination (ODIC) employs a cadre of Disability Integration Advisors (DIAs)
who deploy to support accessibility throughout disaster response and recovery
activities nationwide. The DIAs are experts in disability inclusive emergency
management who use their knowledge to guide FEMA’s commitment to providing
equal access to our programs and services and in support of state efforts to
prevent, address or solve problems for individuals with disabilities and others
with access and functional needs and their communities.
The DIA cadre is 64 strong, comprised
of ten Headquarter staff, ten Regional Disability Integration Specialists and
37 reservists. In addition, there is a DIA on each National Incident Management
Assistance Team (IMAT). To further strengthen deployment capacity, ODIC
recently added five Incident Management Core (IMC) positions ready for
deployment.
To learn more about the Office of
Disability Integration and Coordination, visit www.fema.gov/office-disability-integration-coordination. An overview of
current activities is available online.
FEMA seeks public
comments from state, local, tribal and territorial governments, private
non-profit organizations, and interested members of the public regarding the
agency’s recent revision of the Public Assistance simplified procedures
program. FEMA is seeking comments on specific questions to inform any future
revisions to the project thresholds that are updated annually based on the
Consumer Price Index. Comments are due on January 20, 2015, and may be submitted online.
Following the passage
of the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 and the accompanying Disaster
Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, Congress directed FEMA to evaluate its
simplified procedures thresholds and immediately implement the recommendations.
On January 29, 2014, FEMA issued its report to
Congress that recommended several changes to the threshold and
outlined FEMA’s reasoning. On February 26, 2014, FEMA published a final rule amending
both the minimum and maximum simplified procedures threshold for disasters
declared on or after February 26, 2014.
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