Multnomah County Emergency Management Monthly Newsletter
November 2022
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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.
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June 2023 Cascadia Exercise Concept & Objectives (C&O) Meeting
Multnomah County will be participating with our State, Regional, and local partners next June in a 3-day full-scale Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake exercise. To kick things off, MCEM is hosting a Concepts and Objectives (C&O) Meeting on Monday, November 21 from 1:00 - 2:30 PM to:
- Review the exercise concept and overview
- Determine the exercise timeline (group consensus)
- Review the anticipated extent of partner play
- Identify of planning team members
Interested in participating in the exercise? Reach out to the MCEM Training & Exercise Specialist Robert Quinn ( robert.quinn@multco.us) to be added to this meeting invite! |
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Rapid Damage Assessment Full-Scale Exercise
Image caption: "SimCell Haley" (Haley Zilka), our incredible controller that managed the exercise schedule and simulated information flowing to the EOC.
On October 20th, Multnomah County hosted the third and final event in the 2022 Rapid Damage Assessment (RDA) Series. This series was designed for county-wide response partners to design, develop, validate, and implement their RDA programs in collaboration with the county government. This Exercise Series included the following events:
Attached to each of the events listed above are the Situation Manuals/Exercise Plans to assist your jurisdiction support an internal RDA Exercise Series.
October 20th saw over 100 individuals from over 20 community organizations participate day-of as well as prior-to, for those unable to make this date. The Damage Assessment Unit worked to create a visual map of the simulated data--this is an example of the visual Multnomah County would use to demonstrate the damage to our infrastructure.
How about we go again? This exercise will be repeated in the Fall of 2023 to continue improving damage assessment capabilities. Questions? Reach out to Robert Quinn ( robert.quinn@multco.us) |
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Image caption: County Damage Assessment Unit (Yvette Osborne and Dave Lentzner) working to manage the incoming damage assessments.
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Richard Higgins
Richard (he/him) has joined MCEM as our Operations Division Chief.
Richard brings a decade of experience in emergency management and humanitarian coordination in the northeastern US, southeast Asia, and the Pacific building local capacity in preparedness and contingency planning, coordinating and advising humanitarian partners on the delivery of aid and services, community engagement, volunteering, and advocating for the inclusion and protection of marginalized groups.
He most recently served as the humanitarian advisor for the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Papua New Guinea and managed a multi-agency national disaster management team that coordinates international and nongovernmental assistance for crises and emergencies. Prior to that he held a similar role in the Philippines. Richard is originally from Maine, where he worked for the state emergency management agency on long-term recovery and liaising with voluntary agencies.
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Calvin Hoff
Calvin Hoff (they/them) has joined our team as an Emergency Management Planner.
After moving to Portland from south suburban Chicago in 2016, Calvin spent four years working at Venture Portland supporting the city's 50 neighborhood business districts. In 2022, they completed the Master of Community & Regional Planning program at University of Oregon. There, they served as a project manager for a regional floodplain restoration assessment. Additionally, they researched immigrant experiences on decision-making bodies in Oregon, with their work featured in publications such as the Journal of the American Planning Association.
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Logistics Division Update
- Logistics Division teammate Matt Burke was promoted to Logistics Division Lead in October. He’ll join Gail and Kupp on the creation of a Division-specific Strategic Plan in addition to supporting the team.
- Ordering has commenced for the upcoming winter weather season. MCEM expects upwards of 20 pallets of materials in addition to the large amount of supplies already stored in the warehouse.
- The majority of the Team participated in lots of training this month, including ICS 300, ICS 400, and a Bloodborne Pathogen training that rounds out our First Aid/CPR/AED training.
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The Team has received a second round of test kits from the state (86000+) to distribute to the community. The Multnomah County Health Department and Department of County Human Services are getting ready to push these out to their partners and approve any requests. If you know of an organization that could use test kits, please have them use this form to submit their request.
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The Team are at the interviewing stage for a third driver, with the hope of having someone start in early November. We also will be posting a new Program Specialist role soon. If you know of anyone interested in working in Logistics, have them keep an eye on Multnomah County's career page.
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Upcoming Training & Exercises Events
Trainings
Exercises
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November 1 - Spring East County Wildfire C&O Meeting: This meeting will scope a spring 2023 east county wildfire exercise. (Contact - robert.quinn@multco.us)
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November 8 - Weathering the Storm Tabletop Exercise: This tabletop will validate current winter weather expectations including: meetings being held and expected outcomes, decision-making for closing county government and activating mass care services. (Contact - robert.quinn@multco.us)
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December (Date TBD) - Fuel Dispatch Center Workshop: This workshop will develop the County capability to perform the role of a Fuel Dispatch Center within the Emergency Support Function #12 (ESF #12) in our EOC.
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December 13 - 2Q23 Radio Drill (Contact - robert.quinn@multco.us)
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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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