Emergency Management

PoliciesState Group

Anne CurtisTony HumphreyElisa JohnsonJeremy Lasich

• Virginia Governor’s Cabinet•Secretary of Public Safety Oversees 11 agencies•Dept. of Emergency Management (VDEM)

•Department of Alcohol Beverage Control Department of Correctional Education

•Department of Corrections

•Department of Criminal Justice Services

State Agencies

• Department of Fire Programs

• Department of Forensic Science

• Department of Juvenile Justice

• Department of Military Affairs

• Virginia Parole Board• Virginia State Police

State Agencies

• 1942 - Virginia General Assembly creates Office of Civilian Defense to protect citizens against enemy attack with an emphasis was on coastal areas and military centers. The office was abolished after World War II ended.

State History

• 1950 - The Office of Civilian Defense was re-established in response to the atomic age and the Cold War and re-named the Office of Civil Defense.  Many cities and counties maintained stocked fallout shelters complete with medical supplies.

State History

• 1969 - The remnants of Hurricane Camille in Virginia, centered in Nelson County, killed more than 150 people and caused $113 million in damages.  This storm began to shift the focus of

State History

emergency services from nuclear toward other types of natural and human-caused disasters.

• 1972 - Tropical Storm Agnes hits Virginia, killing 16 people and causing more than $222 million in damages.

State History

• 1973 - Governor Linwood Holton signed the Emergency Services and Disaster Act that replaced the Office of Civil Defense with the Office of Emergency Services, led by a state coordinator of civil defense appointed by the governor.

State History

• 1973 - Agency staffing expanded from about 24 to 40, including training, communications, radiological monitoring, planning, public information, regional staff, recovery officers and administrative staff.

State History

• 1976-78 - During the oil embargo, VOES absorbed the Governor’s Energy Office and added about 20 people to the agency. In 1978, the agency’s name was changed to the Office of Emergency and Energy Services.

State History

• 1985 - Roanoke River system floods due to Hurricane Juan on Election Day, affecting large portions of central and western Virginia. 

State History

• Energy services activities transferred to the new agency and OEES became the Department of Emergency Services.

• 1989 - The federal Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) became law and created a systematic method in place today of coordinated federal assistance to states and local governments for disasters. 

State History

• 1993 - The “Blizzard of the Century” buried western Virginia in as much as three feet of snow, and an historic F4 tornado hit Petersburg/Colonial Heights.

State History

Walmart in Colonial Heights hit by tornado

• 2000 - The agency’s name was changed to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM)

State History

• 2011 - Terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and intentionally flew it into the Pentagon, killing 189 people.

State History

• 2003 - Virginia’s most costly natural disaster, Hurricane Isabel, caused 36 deaths and $1.9 billion in damage.  Five million people were without power, the highest number on record.

State History

• 2005 - VDEM became accredited by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), the fifth state organization to do so.  VDEM was re-certified by EMAP in 2010.

State History

• 2006 -The $6.5 million state-of-the-art Virginia Emergency Operations Center opened in Chesterfield County

State History

• 2008 - The Virginia Interoperability Picture for Emergency Response (VIPER) was launched, providing a GIS supported common operating picture for emergency response.

State History

• 2011 - Governor Bob McDonnell established the Virginia Disaster Relief Fund following an onslaught of tornadoes nearly every week in April

State History

• 2011 - A disaster trifecta included an historic 5.8 magnitude earthquake and severe flooding from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee killed 10 and caused an estimated $129 million in damage.

State History

• 2013 – VDEM celebrates its 40th anniversary.

State History

• 2014 – SB381 transfers homeland security responsibilities from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Secretary of Public Safety.

State History

• Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law•Established in 1973•Amended in 2000 and 2008

•Title 44-146.13 - 44-146.40; Code of Virginia

State Policy

• Established for 3 reasons:•Create a “State Department of Emergency Management” (now VDEM)

•Confer emergency powers to the Governor and executive heads

•Provide for rendering of mutual aid with other states and the federal government

VESD Law

• Powers and duties of the Governor and VDEM:•Governor serves as the Director of Emergency Management

•VDEM lead is Coordinator of EM

•Direct mandatory evacuations

•Declare a state of emergency

VESD Law

• Powers and duties of the Governor and VDEM:•Control and regulate resources

•Commit state resources•Request federal assistance

•Conduct an annual statewide drill

VESD Law

• Works with local government, state and federal agencies and voluntary organizations to provide resources and expertise through the four phases of emergency management:•Prepare•Response •Recovery •Mitigation

VDEM

• New Leadership

• Jeff Stern – State Coordinator as of May

• Curtis Brown – Deputy Coordinator started June 23

VDEM

• Receives 80% of funding from Stafford Act

• Divided into 7 regions• Region 7 is Northern Virginia

VDEM

• Key responsibilities•Support local agencies•Respond to request for resources

•Personnel•Equipment•Water•National Guard

VDEM

• Key responsibilities•Monitor for situational awareness

•Regions are eyes and ears for decision makers in Richmond

•State office works with national agencies

VDEM

• Key responsibilities•Coordinate with other state partners•Police and Fire•Health•Transportation•Schools•Social Services

VDEM

Virginia Tech Press Conference

• Challenges/Concerns• “System is broken”

•Should be local and state working together more instead of feds and state ganging up

•State is overwhelmed and understaffed to fully support localities

•Too much paperwork and too many bureaucratic barriers

VDEM

• Interviews with:•Dave McKernan, Fairfax County OEM Coordinator

• Jeff Kezele, VDEM Region 7 Deputy Coordinator

VDEM

• Interest Groups•Northern Virginia (“NOVA gets too much –everyone understands this” – Jake Kezele)

• Increasing populations (per VDEM report):•Hispanics (92 percent increase over a decade)

•Developmentally disabled

•Private business owners

Kingdon Analysis

• Interest Groups•Volunteer groups (per VDEM report)•Citizens Corps•American Red Cross

•Media

Kingdon Analysis

• Problem Stream•Threats of enemy attack in the 1940s during World War II

•Threats during Cold War led to bomb shelters

•Threats from weather events and natural disasters, such as Hurricane Camille

Kingdon Analysis

• Problems fading from view •Heightened events in Virginia include Sept 11, Hurricane Isabel, Virginia Tech, and a fuel train derailment in Lynchburg•These events reestablish emergency management from condition to problem

Kingdon Analysis

• Policy Stream•Formation of FEMA in 1979

•Stafford Act in 1989•Department of Homeland Security in 2001

•VDEM coordinates policy of other state agencies

•State acts as facilitator between local and federal

Kingdon Analysis

• Technical feasibility, value acceptability, and anticipation of constraints: •State’s role less dominant than fed, local roles

•Community values clearer in local and national emergency management•Impact of FEMA’s response to Katrina likely on the state

•Sniper response seen as Maryland

Kingdon Analysis

• Political Stream•Mood – focusing events (above) influenced national, state and local mood supportive of enhanced resources dedicated to emergency management.

•As mood and/or policies fade from view, so did support for resource dedication.

Kingdon Analysis

• Political Stream•Leadership changes – VDEM coordinator and deputy have a combined 2 months of experience in their roles.•Jeff Stern replaced Michael Cline, who had 42 years of experience.

Kingdon Analysis

• Political Stream• “Now that VDEM leadership is in place, people are jockeying for position – it’s too soon to tell how leadership styles will evolve and how political the environment will be.”

•Dawn Eischen, VDEM PIO (also new!)

Kingdon Analysis

• Political Stream• “Secretary Moran’s office is more focused on political maneuvering than VDEM – they are closer to the action, less operations-oriented, and more policy-oriented”

•Dawn Eischen

Kingdon Analysis

• Policy Window

Kingdon Analysis

• New federal mandate from USDOT that crude oil carriers report shipments to states as they travel through them, a result of Lynchburg crash

• Governor formed task force to determine state protocol

•“Top down” in that first it came from feds, then protocol determined by higher level government execs (Stern was on task force)

Implementation

• CFX (oil company) willing to comply but concerned about turning proprietary documents over to government, subjecting them subject to FOIA.

•VDEM working with them on non-disclosure agreement

Implementation