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January 2021 Chapter Meeting
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FEMA Review of 2020 and Overview of 2021 Expectations

January Chapter Meeting – FEMA in a COVID World

The Colorado chapter of ACP has benefited for many years from a close relationship with the Region VIII office of FEMA.  For our January meeting, we asked them for an update on how such a large and indispensable agency is dealing with the reality of COVID as they prepare and respond to all types of disasters.
 
Speakers from FEMA presented their viewpoints on three elements of Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity:  Response, Mitigation, and Preparedness.  Abby Eichorn, Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) Operations Section Chief, leads teams into immediate response “on the ground” when disaster strikes.  Logan Sand, a community planner with the Mitigation Planning program, focuses on economic data to guide other FEMA efforts.  Michael Brinkman, Regional Continuity Manager for Region VIII, provides continuity policy and program guidance to all Federal, State, Local, and Tribal governments and non-governmental organizations.  (See the speakers’ biographical information below.)

The Presentations
 
Abby Eichorn:  Abby shared the positive news first, that good things come from having to think differently.  She outlined the process the team used to determine how to function in a virtual world: what could go wrong, how to accomplish mitigation, and afterwards, what new ideas gained during COVID should be kept going forward.  Her teams relied heavily on the incident management guidelines (NIMS).  Abby noted that FEMA is working on standard operating procedures to help define events and activities that can be hybrid.  They want to function in person when possible but are working to define triggers for managing disasters remotely.
 
Logan Sand:  Logan described how Interagency Recovery Coordination (IRC) led to better recovery efforts.  He showed us examples of the multiple layers of data collected across Region VIII.  That extensive data led to economic forecasts that helped predict the impact of situations such as school closures, unemployment, business losses, and organizational changes from working in a virtual environment. As COVID continues, he expects impacts to local budgets, changes to budget priorities, and housing difficulties for renters and landlords.  As they prepare for future broader multi-hazard mitigation opportunities, IRC may become a steady-state function.

Michael Brinkman:  Michael shared how FEMA analyzed COVID’s impact to processes across multiple departments, Federal and State partners, and local and county organizations.  As we have all witnessed, some people and organizations were slow to take seriously that we were facing a pandemic.  Recovery plans were inadequate; processes began to fail.  Michael shared the example of devolution, a process whereby essential functions can be handled elsewhere such as counties in the Denver metro area that are prepared to step in when another county’s 911 service is offline.  COVID hit everyone at once, changing those key expectations.  Michael also reported on how FEMA training has adapted to the virtual requirements, and he noted that some changes will be permanent as they look for positive outcomes.

Michael also recommends linking here for information on FEMA’s extensive training and certification programs.
 
About our Speakers
 
Abby Eichorn is the Operations Section Chief for the Region VIII Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT).  Abby partners with state governments during Federally Declared disasters to support coordination of the response and provide access to federal resources. Along with over 13 years of emergency management experience Abby has earned a bachelor’s degree in Crisis and Disaster Management, a master’s degree in Public Administration and will be finishing her Doctor of Management degree this spring, focusing on the generation gap in emergency management.

Logan Sand, a Community Planner in FEMA Region VIII and part of the Mitigation Planning program team, provides technical advice and guidance to State, Tribal, and local officials in the development of effective mitigation strategies to reduce vulnerability to future hazards.  Logan conducts training and consults with communities to integrate natural hazards into regulatory and investment mechanisms related to land use.  Logan’s prior experience includes working for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and the Natural Resources Defense Council. He holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning.

Michael D. Brinkman is the Regional Continuity Manager for FEMA Region VIII (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, & WY), providing continuity policy and program guidance to all Federal, State, Local, and Tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, and private sector critical infrastructure partners to integrate continuity plans and capabilities to assist in a prepared and resilient Nation. 
 




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