Providence Leads Nation in Emergency Management Planning
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The City of Providence is one of only three U.S. cities to achieve full accreditation from the national Emergency Management Accreditation Program, leading the country in the delivery of sound emergency services. Providence was the first city in the U.S. to achieve full ranking.
Joining Austin, Texas and its sister metropolis Boston, Massachusetts, the city’s emergency management program obtained premier status in 2010.
Emergency preparedness is a process.
“Emergency management is a daily function of the city,”said Peter Gaynor, Director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). "People don't think about it until there is an incident that triggers awareness. We prepare, train and drill all the time."We just completed our annual EMAP reporting for submission on April 30.”
Accreditation through the EMAP program is granted for a five year term, with comprehensive reporting due annually. "We just completed our annual EMAP reporting for submission on April 30," he said.
“The most difficult challenge that I face is trying to convince people that emergency situations are going to happen,” said Gaynor. “Trying to get people to understand that bad things happen is difficult. Trying to encourage them to be prepared is a challenge.”
Gaynor accredits maintaining a solid plan as a key component to successful emergency management. “EMAP itself helps us to maintain a sound program. Our core program is based in all of the standards. Once adopted, it becomes routine.” said Gaynor.
“We conduct drills, hold training and educational support classes on a continual basis,” he said. “Mass casualty training is also conducted and we try to schedule those trainings at least twice a year. PEMA will be participating in a four-day FEMA sponsored course to be held at the RI Convention Center, May 13-16."
The course, called an IEMC or Integrated Emergency Management Course is a simulation of a major Hurricane and flooding event in the city.
“The exercise will include representatives from the city, Department of Transportation, Department of Health, Public Safety and PEMA. We open it up to all emergency managers and expect to have approximately 75-80 participants," said Gaynor.
“We had a meeting today about road races and events, with the Cox Road Races coming up this weekend. After Newtown and Boston, you assess your program,” he said. “We try to take a balanced approach to emergency management, not reactionary. It is important that the plan supports a balanced approach, is sustainable and is not reactionary in nature. We are pretty secure in knowing that we have a plan in place.”
Ellis M. Stanley, Sr., Board Chair of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), who has participated in EMAP accreditations internationally, emphasized the importance of community in the EMAP process.
EMAP accreditation should be commended.
“The goal of every community is to build resilience in Emergency Management,” Stanley said. “The people of the City of Providence should be thrilled to have a municipality and team that have achieved national accreditation. It means that they did it right. There are sixty-four criteria that have to be met to achieve that status. That is quite the commendable achievement.””
In order to meet the standards and the sixty-three criteria (63) in place at the time of submission, the City had to go through a self-assessment process, identify and fill any gaps in their program. After submission a team of emergency management peers from across the nation completed an on-site evaluation.
Stanley recommended that all jurisdictions use the EMAP as a self-assessment tool to identify strengths and weaknesses in their emergency management plans.
“In order to achieve accreditation an entity has to be one hundred percent compliant,” said Jessica Byrski, spokesperson for the national Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). “There are currently sixty four (64) standards that have to be achieved.”
“The Emergency Management Standard by EMAP is a national recognized; ANSI-accredited standard. The standards are a pillar of the assessment process for emergency management programs to become accredited. Those standards are reviewed every three years through committee involvement and public comment,” said Byrski.
“The 2013 version of the Emergency Management Standard will be published this January 2014. There have not been any significant changes to report from the date of the City’s accreditation to now. Accredited programs are required to submit annual reports that prove their programs are still maintaining compliance with their accreditation. This annual reporting assists to ease the process for accredited programs when changes may occur within the standards.”
EMAP keeps members informed as to evolving standards through continual contact.
“We have a monthly electronic newsletter that goes out to all subscribed and accredited program representatives. The newsletter keeps all our stakeholders, subscribed programs, and accredited programs current with EMAP activities (it’s one of the many benefits to the EMAP subscription),” said Byrski. "Another way we communicate to our subscribed and accredited programs of any changes that may occur in the standards is by providing a crosswalk from the two different versions of the standards to show programs where any (if any) changes occur.”
Functionally, all jurisdictions have the same requirements. Whether it be communications, search and rescue, police and fire or special hazards, the functionality is the same, according to Stanley.
“You have to look at rescue services and emergency management services (EMS) from a functional need,” he said. “Either you have an asset or you don’t. If you don’t you have to look at your mutual aid options and determine how to bridge that gap.”
Unified standards support mutual aid programs.
Development of national and international EMAP programs is an important factor in getting everyone on the same page.
“The accreditation program is important because it gets everyone headed in the same direction,” said Kevin Gallup, Vice President of the Rhode Island Association of Emergency Managers (RIAEM) in an interview after the Marathon bombings. “Everyone at a director’s level has to deal with the issues presented by their own circumstance. Providence has a unique set of circumstances such as its location at the head of Narragansett Bay.”
“It is the state’s largest city. It has circumstances and needs unlike the inland cities of Cranston or even Warwick,” Gallup said. “Providence has the hurricane barrier, storm surge and other issues not seen in other areas. We don’t have multiple cities sitting at the head of the bay.”
“At the local level, not every city or town is seeking accreditation due to lack of resources available and major commitment to the process. Some states, like Massachusetts and others, have counties to as their backbone. They are broken into a more regional approach with tax money coming in, said Gallup. “In Rhode Island you don’t have that. We’ve had eleven federal level disasters in just over 60 years, four of which happened since 2010,” said Gallup.
“Rhode Island has one full-time director in Providence. The others are part-time or playing dual roles as Director, managing police and fire. Some directors are actually volunteers. It’s difficult to take on a project like EMAP when you are fully staffed,” said Joseph Arsenault, President of RIAEM in a prior GoLocal interview. “Providence has the only full-time Director in the state. In other states - nationally they have more resources available.”
Mutual aid between municipalities, states and their emergency services agencies is encouraged.
“There is an African proverb,” said Stanley. “It’s not about us, without us.”
