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FEMA is releasing five emergency operations center toolkit documents. The toolkit has a collection of customizable tools, templates and guides designed to assist emergency management, specifically emergency operations center managers and staff members on preparing and operating in emergency environments.
These documents will contribute to developing an emergency operation center that can successfully meet the jurisdiction’s needs. The toolkit documents will cover topics such as hazard vulnerability assessments, physical site selection, mitigation considerations, capabilities and requirements, information management systems as well as training and exercises.
The toolkit is a collective effort with FEMA, emergency management stakeholders and subject matter experts at various levels, representing FEMA, the Department of Health and Human Services, state and private sector partners.
The funding notice has been released for $35.5 million to support the 2020 Fire Prevention and Safety Grants. These grants are part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants, which support projects that enhance the safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards. The application period for the program opens at 8 a.m. ET on Jan. 26 and closes at 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 28.
The primary goal of Fire Prevention and Safety Grants is to reduce injury and prevent death among high-risk populations. The program accomplishes this by making awards within the areas of fire prevention and firefighter safety research and development.
Fire departments and national, regional, state, local, tribal and non-profit organizations that are recognized for their experience and expertise in fire prevention and safety programs are eligible to apply for fire prevention funding. National, state, local, federally recognized tribal and non-profit organizations, including academic institutions, public health, occupational health and injury prevention institutions are eligible to apply for funding in research and development.
The notice of funding opportunity is available at www.grants.gov. For more information on the Fire Prevention and Safety grants, go to FEMA.gov.
On Jan. 20 Region 9 Regional Administrator Bob Fenton will officially become the Acting FEMA Administrator until the Senate confirms new agency leadership. This is to ensure there is no interruption in the delivery of FEMA's critical mission. Additionally, the Region 3 Regional Administrator Mary Ann Tierney will serve as the FEMA Deputy Administrator immediately following the presidential inauguration ceremony.
FEMA has been planning for a presidential transition since the spring of 2020. This planning ensures a smooth and orderly transition to the new administration, continuity across the agency’s programs and allows our dedicated and knowledgeable workforce to focus on the mission.
FEMA has been fully engaged with our federal, state and local authorities before this event and will remain so during and after the presidential inauguration. To learn more on how FEMA is supporting the Presidential Transition, visit FEMA.gov.
FEMA released its “Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Initial Assessment Report” which assesses the agency’s initial response to the global pandemic.
Highlighted items in the report show the agency faced many challenges, including the need to clarify roles and authorities between responding agencies and the difficulty of managing complex interagency coordination while still protecting its own workforce. The report covers FEMA’s response from mid-March through Sept. 30 and provides 32 key findings and 57 recommendations in five areas.
While coordinating the federal COVID-19 response, FEMA responded to multiple disasters. The year 2020 was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in history with 25 named Atlantic Ocean storms, three of which were declared major disasters across seven states.
FEMA partnered with the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other federal agencies to better manage the complex logistical operations. To drastically speed up the arrival of medical supplies and personal protective equipment to the domestic market, FEMA chartered privately owned planes for medical distributors. This action reduced the transit time from 30–45 days via ocean freight to approximately five days via air freight. Project Airbridge chartered 249 flights over a span of 92 days to deliver approximately 1.73 billion units of personal protective equipment and medical supplies to prioritized areas.
FEMA’s pandemic operations led to innovations for coordination with government and non-government partners on implementing national distribution networks, innovative solutions to data management and analysis, manufacturing and procuring scarce resources. The agency’s adaptive workforce enabled it to facilitate an effective operational response to the pandemic.
The report findings and recommendations will be used to inform FEMA and the emergency management community with the purpose of improving current and future response plans to pandemics. The Initial Assessment Report represents part of FEMA’s continuous improvement process, helping the agency learn how to respond faster and to communicate to the emergency management community where there are opportunities to build greater capacity.
At about 4 a.m. Christopher McGrath, a commercial fisherman from San Juan, begins to prepare his boat to go out to sea to find fresh fish. That hard work goes on for long hours until the sun goes down, where he then distributes the day’s catch to restaurants and to the public.
Nearly a thousand fishermen live this daily scenario on the coasts of Puerto Rico. For many, the work is more difficult and demanding after Hurricane María destroyed many of their boats, work equipment and even the wharfs where they docked. Therefore a $1.8 million allocation from FEMA to the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture represents a boost for the island's fishermen, since it will improve the safety and environment of their places of work.
Four fishing villages where 96 fishermen work will be repaired and rebuilt using these federal funds:
- La Coal Fishing Village in Old San Juan, with an obligation of about $696,000.
- Maunabo Fishing Village, located near the historic Punta Tuna lighthouse, with about $347,000.
- El Maní Fishing Village in Mayagüez, with about $393,000.
- Guayama Fishing Village with about $383,000.
Of those funds, about $174,000 will go towards the strengthening of the facilities in order to reduce damage to the structures in the event of future disasters.
For more information on Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane María, visit FEMA.gov and recuperacion.pr.
The President signed the STORM act on Jan. 1. The act establishes a fund for local governments to eliminate or reduce disaster damage.
The Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act provides capitalization grants to participating states and tribes in order to loan money to local governments for hazard mitigation projects. As loans are repaid, the funds are available for other mitigation project loans. The revolving loan funds have the potential to offer lower interest rates and more flexible terms and conditions than the private market.
Congress has not yet appropriated funds for the STORM Act. An appropriation is necessary for its implementation.
The act states that $100 million would be authorized for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. Participating states and tribal governments must submit an intended use plan to FEMA annually to demonstrate how they will administer the revolving loan funds. States are defined as any state of the United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
A revolving loan fund uses a source of capital to states and tribes to provide direct loans to local governments. It may finance water, wastewater, infrastructure, disaster recovery, community and small business development projects.
FEMA Seeks Public Comment on Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101
FEMA seeks feedback on the updated “Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans,” which provides guidance on developing emergency operations plans and promotes a common understanding of the fundamentals of community-based, risk-informed planning and decision making to help planners examine a threat or hazard and produce integrated, coordinated and synchronized plans.
FEMA updated this guidance recently to align with new and updated policies and programs, providing additional tools and maintaining the flexibility and scalability of the document while expanding on the role of whole community partners.
FEMA will host a series of 60-minute webinar sessions to discuss changes to the updated guide and gather feedback from whole community partners. The sessions will include facilitated discussions with stakeholders to help improve the existing draft. A line numbered version of the CPG 101 is available to allow individuals to provide comments on specific areas within the document.
This national engagement period concludes at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 25.
To review the document and learn more about the webinar sessions, visit the FEMA.gov.
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FEMA Announces $40 million for Flood Mitigation Grants
FEMA announced an additional $40 million in funding is available for the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program. This increases the funding amount for Fiscal Year 2020 from $160 million to $200 million. The increase in funding is a result of recovered funds for projects from previous grant cycles that were completed under budget or were not implemented.
The notice of funding opportunity is updated with the new grant amount. Additional details such as eligibility, funding guidelines and evaluation criteria have not changed and are available on FEMA.gov.
Eligible applicants must apply for funding using the new FEMA Grants Outcome, or FEMA GO. All applications must be submitted in the FEMA Go Portal no later than 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 29. Applications received by FEMA after this deadline will not be considered for funding.
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National Dam Safety Technical Seminar
Registration is open for the 28th Annual National Dam Safety Program Technical Seminar, “Risk Informed Decision Making and Benefit Cost Analysis for Dam and Levee Projects.” This seminar will be held virtually on FEMA Adobe Connect from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on Feb. 16 - 19. Participants encouraged to apply include all dam and levee safety professionals, including Public and Private Dam owners/operators, Dam Safety Engineers, Land Use planners and emergency management officials.
Visit the Emergency Management Institute website to register for this seminar.
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FEMA Holds Disability Stakeholder Call on Personal Assistance Services
In June 2020, FEMA released the "Mass Care/Emergency Assistance Pandemic Planning Considerations Guide" to help state, local, tribal and territorial partners provide shelter services and maintain the health and well-being of disaster survivors and workers in a pandemic environment.
FEMA recently released a personal assistance service addendum to the original guidance that will assist state, local, tribal and territorial partners in anticipating and attending to the needs of people with disabilities.
Personal assistance services are provided to individuals of all ages with physical, sensory, intellectual, learning and/or other disabilities to help with activities of daily living, such as grooming, eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, taking medication and communicating. Personal Assistance services also help people with disabilities access programs and services.
Join the Office of Disability Integration and Coordination call at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 27 to learn more about how providing personal assistance services at the onset of a disaster sheltering mission can reduce health and safety risks for people with disabilities:
- Call: 800-289-0459
- Participant Passcode: 401190
At the start time of the event, please login to the event.
Please send questions to be addressed during the call to FEMA by Jan. 25.
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FEMA Seeks Feedback on Incident Complexity Guide
The FEMA National Integration Center is seeking feedback on the 2021 NIMS Incident Complexity Guide: Planning, Preparedness and Training. This national engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 12. National engagement provides an opportunity for interested parties to comment on the draft document ensuring that it is relevant for all implementing partners.
To provide comments on the drafts, complete the feedback form and submit the form to the FEMA National Integration Center.
To review this document, visit FEMA.gov.
The National Integration Center will host a series of 60-minute webinars to discuss the NIMS Incident Complexity Guide and answer related questions. All webinars are open to the whole community.
Each stakeholder webinar will cover the same information; choose the session most convenient for you. Advance registration is required due to space limitations. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, click on your preferred webinar session from the list below.
If you require accommodations to participate in these events, please provide details in the Disability Related Accommodations field on the registration page, or contact the FEMA National Integration Center.
Please make accommodation requests as early as possible. Late requests will be accepted, but they may not be possible to fulfill.
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DHS Webinar: Preventing Exploitation and Human Trafficking Among Youth in a Pandemic
The President issued a proclamation designating January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. To commemorate the month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives is hosting a webinar from 2 to 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 28.
How to Join the Webinar:
A recording of the webinar will be sent by email to all registered participants in case they are unable to attend or wish to share it.
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FEMA Announces Firefighters Grant Application Open
The funding notice for the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA fiscal year 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is available. The application period for nearly $320 million in funding will remain open until 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 12.
FEMA released the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program on Dec. 29. The notice and technical assistance documents for this program are available at Grants.gov and on FEMA.gov. Additional information about upcoming webinars to assist applicants is also available on FEMA.gov.
Any applicants requiring assistance should visit that website, send an email to the FEMA AFG Program Help Desk or call (866) 274-0960.
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FEMA is Accepting Youth Preparedness Council Applications
The FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Division is accepting applications for the Youth Preparedness Council. The online application process will open on Jan. 18, and students must complete their applications by 11:59 p.m. PT on March 7.
If you know a teen interested in preparedness and community service, encourage them to apply.
To learn more about the Youth Preparedness Council, visit Ready.gov.
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