Multnomah County Emergency Management Monthly Newsletter
July 2021
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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 by the 20th of each month.
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June 2021 Severe Heat Event |
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Last week’s historic heat wave left a tremendous impact on our community, with 64 identified heat-related deaths in Multnomah County as of July 4.
Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury said the County will be conducting a much deeper analysis of what happened during the heat wave and how to plan for the future. Read the press release.
“This was a true health crisis that has underscored how deadly an extreme heat wave can be, especially to otherwise vulnerable people,’’ said Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Vines. “I know many county residents were looking out for each other and am deeply saddened by this initial death toll. As our summers continue to get warmer, I suspect we will face this kind of event again.’’
Beginning June 23, the County mounted an all-hands-on-deck response that included opening three 24-hour cooling centers and nine cooling spaces, directly contacting tens of thousands of vulnerable elders, people with disabilities and pregnant women, distributing hundreds of fans and sending more than 60 outreach teams into the field to reach people experiencing homelessness.
The cooling centers had a total of 1,040 overnight guests and served hundreds more during the daytime. Additionally, 7,610 people found relief at the nine Multnomah County libraries which opened or extended hours as cooling spaces. About 800 County employees, or nearly a quarter of the County’s workforce, were involved in the response, along with volunteers from many organizations.
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The Oregon Convention Center Cooling Center, June 27 |
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Interview of the Month:
Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
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OEMA/OEM Conference
Event Overview: The Oregon Emergency Management Association (OEMA) is collaborating with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to host their annual emergency management-focused conference. This event draws Emergency Managers from state, local, and tribal governments, non-profit agencies, and the business community. In addition, this event regularly includes representation from statewide elected officials, federal agencies, and volunteer associations. Conference sessions will address a wide range of emergency management topics, with a focus on lessons learned from the Pandemic and wildfire preparedness.
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MCEM welcomes our newest team member, Arini Farrell, who joins our Planning Division as a Senior Emergency Management Planner. She previously worked as a planner for municipalities including City of Troutdale, Oregon and Town of Lantana, Florida. In addition to land use planning responsibilities in her past roles, Arini is also a Certified Floodplain Manager and was tasked with leading floodplain management activities and local mitigation activities for the communities she served.
Prior to her role as a planner, she worked for community based organizations, working closely with vulnerable populations such as seniors, newcomers, refugees and youths. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies and Planning from the University of Waterloo (Canada).
Arini's current projects include the Wildfire Smoke section of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan and resilience planning for the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub.
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Upcoming Training & Exercises Events
Below are some events we would like to highlight:
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July 8th - Cascadia National Level Exercise 2022 Concept & Objectives Meeting: This meeting will provide participants an overview of the exercise event, discuss how Multnomah County expects to participate, and how partners can become involved.
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August 11th National Emergency Alert Test: The Wireless Emergency Alert portion of the test will be directed only to consumer cell phones where the subscriber has opted-in to receive test messages. This will be the second nationwide WEA test, but the first nationwide WEA test on a consumer opt-in basis. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
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Job Opportunities
The American Red Cross Cascades Region is actively recruiting for a Disaster Client Services Specialist who is responsible for leading the Mass Care, Logistics, and Recovery functions.
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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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