Just-in-Time Special Topics

We talk about whole community in our profession, this starts and stops with everyone in our community.  It is imperative that you plan with, not for those with Access and Functional Needs (AFN).  This starts before and continues during/after the incident.  Take time to embrace the AFN community and seek to understand the unique needs, resources and attributes of this group before crisis strikes.  

Evacuations are a complex part of any disaster.  This is one of the largest and most stressful complications in any disaster situation.  No matter how much you have prepared as a community, there are many things that can go wrong.  Evacuations are also wrought with many cascading dominoes of activity (transportation, accountability, re-entry and many others).  It is worth taking time to learn from other community lessons around the US and how you as a disaster leader can best help manage this crazy situation.

Disaster assessment helps us get our arms around "how big is big and how bad is bad."  By having a plan ahead of time to get a sense of what happened and where, you can get folks organized and trained so that you can "size-up" the situation more quickly.  This will allow a more accurate and efficient utilization of resources and allow you to scale your response (state/fed/neighbors/etc) to get ahead of the disaster impacts.

Pets are a critical part of many people's families.  It is vitally important that you take the time ahead of time...to collect the items your pet will need away from home (or at home during a disaster) and a plan for how you'll take care of the whole family in an emergency.  

COVID was an obvious game changer for our world and certainly for disaster and incident response across the country.  It has required us to think outside the box, get creative and still get across the finish line for those counting on us.  It has had many lessons learned and many new ways to do business while exploiting technology.  As we move forward, hopefully many of these best practices will carry forward as part of the new "how we do business."  

Sheltering is a necessary and important component to any disaster scenario.  Whether your community is in charge of sheltering or utilizes the services of a Voluntary Agency Active in Disaster (VOAD), there are some lessons learned and best practices you should study up on before a disaster comes to your hometown.  

Planned special events are key items that an EOC must understand, plan for, and support to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable time.  Many of the facets of planning and response to a traditional emergency situation can be modified and applied to special event planning.  When possible, start early, meet people, and get on the same page ahead of time.

Chances are...your incident will involve transportation assets or impacts.  It's important to understand the idea of ESF 1 and the Transportation Lifeline as well as the partners/assets/resources in this space.  The folks who work in a Dept of Transportation, Road & Bridge, Public Works, or other department often can bring a ton of experience and equipment to the fight...whether it be traditional transportation situations or things like debris management.  

Volunteers can be an incredible force multiplier in a disaster situation.  If leveraged properly, they can do wonderful things before, during, and after a disaster comes to your community...if not organized and managed, it can become a dangerous liability.  Work with partners in you community (churches, United Way, civic groups, etc) to ensure that you can safely, effectively, and efficiently on-board, utilize, and demob the surge of goodwill volunteerism when you need it most.

VOAD agencies are a force multiplier and convener of community goodwill beyond belief.  If you plan ahead and help organize the community organziations (think non-profits and faith based community), they can make a disaster go instrumentally better than it would have otherwise.  You should also have a plan for when the VOAD "motherships" roll into town on a major disaster and how to leverage their capabilities.