Pictured Left: Volunteers & staff gather supplies to assemble cooling kits.

Organized by Renee Curtis of Department of County Human Services (DCHS), several volunteers from DCHS and MCEM gathered on Friday, June 7th to assemble Cooling Kits for community distribution. Each cooling kit includes a reusable water bottle, misting bottle, gel packs, electrolyte packets, a cooling towel and information on other available resources.

Over the course of the day, 5,000 kits were assembled! Most have already been distributed to community based organizations that are providing them to vulnerable populations. For more information, contact Renee Curtis at renee.curtis@multco.us.

Pictured Below: Kits are placed into bags for later distribution.

Pictured left to right: Crissaya Wood (Multco DCHS), Haley Zilka (MCEM), Kim Kosmas, holding Golden Sparky award (Portland Fire), Hazelle Lerum (MCEM), and Dr. Renee Curtis (DCHS) stand, smiling.

On June 25th, the Oregon State Fire Marshal presented Portland Fire Senior Public Education Officer, Kim Kosmas, the Golden Sparky award at Portland Fire Station 1. The Golden Sparky recognizes a fire service member or fire agency for outstanding fire prevention or public safety education achievement. Kim assists severe weather shelters and other disaster resource center facilities by issuing conditional use permits (CUPs) and providing fire safety recommendations to facility owners. MCEM, DCHS, and JOHS congratulate her for her hard work! 

Prepare Your Organization with Professional Education

Resilient communities and organizations are able to plan, mitigate, and respond effectively when a crisis strikes. This live, fully online professional certificate program will provide essential methods and tools to plan and respond to emergencies with greater awareness, effectiveness, and resilience.

This six-session, interactive program is taught by expert faculty and offered through Portland State University's Center for Executive and Professional Education (PSU CEPE). The program integrates core concepts with real-world experience, relevant case studies, and practical activities to prepare you to advance emergency management within your own organization and communities. 

The program is designed for business, government, and community leaders, operations managers, communications professionals, and anyone interested in building their organization's capacity for emergency planning, response, and resilience.

To learn more, click here and register now for an Early Bird discount of 10%.

• Dates: Fridays on October 4, 11, 25, and November 1, 8 & 15, 2024 
• Time: 12:30 - 4:30pm Pacific Time
• Location: Virtual live sessions via Zoom 
• Cost: $1,250 - Early Bird discount and Payment Plan available
• Questions: Contact CEPE@pdx.edu

With hot weather ahead, learn how to staff cooling shelters and keep our communities safe!

When the weather gets dangerously hot, Multnomah County may open up Disaster Resource Centers (DRCs) or Emergency Cooling Shelters to keep people safe. We depend on community-wide support to help activate, run and staff them. 

Learn more about how you can help the County show up for our community. See links in the training session for live course delivery.

You can also help our communities by sharing the County’s Help for When it’s Hot website.

Thank you, 

Department of County Human Services



Questions? Contact ESF6.MassCare@multco.us.

Upcoming Events

You can view upcoming training opportunities through the following events calendars: Multnomah County, the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (subscribe option), the State of Oregon (subscribe option), and the State of Washington.

Training Offerings

July 1 & 19: Info Session - Severe Weather Shelter/Disaster Resource Center

• Host: Multnomah County Department of County Human Services
• Time: 1pm-1:45pm
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• Registration Not Required

July 1 & 19: Staff Training - Severe Weather Shelter/Disaster Resource Center

• Host: Multnomah County Department of County Human Services
• Time: 2-4pm
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• Register Here

July 16-25: K0428 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer

• Host: FEMA
• Time: 10am-2pm (PT)
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: Referral from a CERT-sponsoring agency, CERT Training
• Registration Flyer Here

July 16: ATC-20: Post-Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings

• Host: WA EMD Training Team
• Time: 1pm-5pm
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• Register Here

July 18: FEMA P-2055 Post-disaster Building Safety Evaluation Guidance

• Host: WA EMD Training Team
• Time: 1pm-5pm
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• Register Here

July 25-26: Disaster Management for Public Services

• Host: TEEX
• Time: 8am-5pm
• Location: South Puget Sound College, 4200 Capitol Blvd, Olympia, WA 98501
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• Register Here (look for Olympia offering)

July 30-31: Preparedness Roundtable: Older Adults and Disasters

• Host: FEMA and AARP
• Time: 8:30am-4pm (7/30) & 8:30-12 (7/31)
• Location: Released Upon Registration
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: None
• To Register: Email fema-r10-communityprep@fema.dhs.gov.

August 5-7: ICS 300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents

• Host: Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM)
• Time: TBD
• Location: Portland EOC, 9911 SE Bush Street, Portland, OR 97266
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: IS 100, IS 200, IS 700, and IS 800
• Register Here

August 20-21: ICS 400: Advanced ICS for Complex Incidents

• Host: Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM)
• Time: TBD
• Location: Portland EOC, 9911 SE Bush Street, Portland, OR 97266
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: IS 100, IS 200, ICS 300, IS 700, and IS 800
• Register Here

August 26-30: K0490 Voluntary Agency Coordination in Disasters

• Host: FEMA
• Time: 8am-2pm (PT)
• Location: Virtual
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: IS-0289: Voluntary Agency Liaison (VAL)
• Registration Flyer Here