The Office of Emergency Management was very active during the January Winter Weather Event! Multnomah County served a record 1,292 guests at 14 emergency shelters over the course of the activation. Our Logistics, Operations and Planning Divisions all sprung into action to fulfill a variety of roles.

The Logistics team delivered all kinds of resources to support sheltering operations, including 132 pallets of materials prior to shelter openings. While shelters were activated, over 160,000 individual support materials were delivered. Unfortunately, power at the Logistics Warehouse went out the night of Saturday, January 13th. However, Logistics worked with the County's facilities team to setup a generator so to ensure a continuity of operations over the activation.

Operations supported the emergency response through a variety of roles, including Operations Section Lead and 211 Ride Facilitation. Operations Division's own Alice Busch served as Safety Unit Staff and provided medical help at multiple emergency shelters.

For this activation, MCEM took on Passenger Transportation Unit (PTU) for this first time ever. PTU facilitates rides where necessary for guests and staff to get to shelters. After training on how to operate vehicles this past summer, Planning Division member David Lentzner joined forces with Operations as PTU lead to ensure staff could get to shelters to fulfill shifts and shelter guests could get to the appropriate shelter location.

Planning worked diligently over the activation collecting, evaluating and disseminating information. Responsible for the Incident Action Plan and daily Situation Reports, Planning helps create overall situational awareness while supporting informed decision-making by leadership.

Interested in helping support the next emergency activation? To support the Logistics team, email eoc.logisticschief@multco.us. To support Passenger Transport Unit, utilize this interest form.

MCEM would like to welcome our new Planning Division Lead: Michael Gaciri!

Michael joined the county in January 2024, and brings over 20 years of professional experience working in non-profit, private and governmental organizations including over a decade in emergency management. Prior to joining the county, Michael worked at DFW International Airport, one of the leading and busiest airports in the world, as a Senior Emergency Manager where he led strategic initiatives in emergency management, business continuity, and disaster recovery. Michael is certified as a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®) with the International Association of Emergency Managers and Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) with the Disaster Recovery Institute.

Michael was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and is blessed to call Portland and Nairobi his home away from home.

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.

February 8: G0191: Emergency Operations Center/Incident Command System Interface

February 15, March 4 and April 11: Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) Development Workshop - Three Part Sessions

February 15: PLAN-tastic Preparedness: Emergency Action Plans

February 26-March 1: K2300: Intermediate Emergency Operations Center Functions

February 27: MGT452: Physical and Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure

March 4-6: L0102: Science for Disasters

March 5, 7, 12 and 28: Be Two Weeks Ready Program Manager Training

March 7-8: L0103: Planning: Emergency Operations

March 11-13: 2300 Intermediate Emergency Operations Center Functions

March 13-14: ICS-400 Advanced ICS for Command and General Staff

March 25-29: K0490 Voluntary Agency Coordination in Disasters

April 8-12: K0449 Incident Command System Curricula Train-the-Trainer

April 16-17: MGT465 Recovering from Cybersecurity Incidents