Multnomah County Emergency Management Newsletter

Multnomah County Emergency Management Monthly Newsletter

June 2023

Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management (MCEM) compiles this monthly email to provide information related to emergency management activities. If you have content for this newsletter, please submit to em.dutyofficer@multco.us.

Multnomah County's new Emergency Operations Center

Two Multnomah County Emergency Management staff members standing next to mostly empty shelves with several boxes on the floor

MCEM staff unpacking boxes for the new EOC.

MCEM is excited to share that we have acquired a space in the Multnomah Building that will act as our new Emergency Operations Center (EOC)!

Planning and design for the space are still underway, and we are looking forward to having an EOC that will help us respond rapidly, improve coordination, and effectively manage resources for any level of emergency and incident complexity across the county.

MCEM's office has also moved and will be conveniently situated directly next to the new EOC space.

MCEM welcomes

Lydia Ledgerwood-Eberlein

MCEM is pleased to welcome its newest team member, Lydia Ledgerwood-Eberlein, who joined the Operations section in May! Lydia brings a wide variety of experience to the team, spanning international development and emergency response to local disaster preparedness. Following time in Albania and Sri Lanka engaged in post-conflict recovery work, she returned to the Pacific Northwest with her husband to start an earthquake preparedness company inspired by their experience in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

More recently, Lydia worked the Multnomah County COVID-19 response. She is a trained mediator and has served the community in a variety of capacities including victim’s advocacy, parent disaster preparedness advocacy, and as a Neighborhood Emergency Team member.

Lydia graduated from Gonzaga University with a BA in English Literature and a minor in Business. She is deeply invested in creating and being a part of an aware, prepared, and resilient community, and believes Multnomah County’s Emergency Management work is an essential part of that. Please join us in welcoming Lydia!

Lydia can be reached at lydia.ledgerwood-eberlein@multco.us.

MCEM bids farewell to Robert Quinn

MCEM Training and Exercise Specialist Robert Quinn has accepted the position of State Exercise Officer with the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. His last day with the County will be June 15. Robert has been an integral part of the MCEM team and will be deeply missed.

During his five years with MCEM, Robert spearheaded numerous trainings and exercises and developed emergency response plans, most recently coordinating an update to the County Fuel Plan, helping to develop Regional Mass Care workshops, organizing an East County Wildfire Response tabletop exercise, and exercising the County’s Damage Assessment Plan. His work at MCEM is closing with the direction of the Multnomah County Cascadia 2023 Functional Exercise this June.

While at MCEM, Robert also supported dozens of emergency responses, including during COVID-19 and severe weather, primarily as a valued member of logistics and planning teams and on guest transport teams that brought people at risk to and from severe weather shelters. Robert has held roles in state and regional emergency management associations and organizations, bringing his expertise and enthusiasm for training and exercises to numerous stakeholders and governmental partners.

There will be a send-off no-host happy hour on Tuesday, June 13, at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub (915 SE Hawthorne) starting at 4:30 pm. Please join us in celebrating Robert and wishing him well as he embarks on the next phase of his career!

Wildfire Webinars

The Office of State Fire Marshal hosted a series of webinars geared towards preparing for wildfire in recognition of Wildfire Awareness Month. Recordings of these webinars are available on their website. In addition, there are two upcoming webinars in June that are worth checking out! Click on the webinar links to register:

June 14: Noon – 1 p.m. | Public Safety Power Shut-off

June 21: 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Fire Season Forecast

View past webinars and learn more.

2023 National Access and Functional Needs Symposium

The 2023 National Access and Functional Needs Symposium will take place virtually from 9 a.m. to noon PDT on July 11 and 12. The symposium brings the disability community together with emergency managers, disaster planners and first responders from across the country to highlight forward-leaning, inclusive, innovative practices in emergency management and advance the mission of access and functional needs. Learn more and register.

Upcoming Events

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

Training Offerings

Disaster Resource Center general staff trainings:
06/07/2023 (Wed. 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm)
06/17/2023 (Sat. 8:00 am - 10:30 am)
06/20/2023 (Tue. 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm)
06/27/2023 (Tue. 11:00 am - 1:30 pm)
07/15/2023 (Sat. 8:00 am - 10:30 am)

Exercise Events

Cascadia '23 Exercise Event (June 13-15): This regional exercise will see varying levels of play both within Multnomah County and throughout the Portland Metropolitan Region. Focusing on a Cascadia Subduction Zone scenario, this exercise will test our emergency communications, mass care and sheltering, and emergency fuel operations. For questions about this exercise please reach out to robert.quinn@multco.us.

Have something you'd like to include in one of our future newsletters? We'd love to hear from you! To have your upcoming trainings, exercises, events, or other announcements added, please email em.dutyofficer@multco.us.

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