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Emergency Management Guide for Brookline |
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BROOKLINE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM
2005 IN REVIEW
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This year has once again demonstrated the need for preparedness in the
event of many types of emergency. Continued military actions in Iraq and
Afghanistan along with heightened security after a dirty bomb scare in
the Metro Boston Area and the London transit bombings have reinforced
the need to protect our citizens from terrorism. Nature has also
reminded us that we must prepare for more than just a man-made disaster,
as hurricanes ravaged communities throughout the Gulf Coast region
(historically storms of this magnitude have struck New England) and
threats of a flu pandemic fill the news. Few of us would have thought
this year we would see a major American city destroyed and abandoned and
its survivors suffering and dying for days (sometimes weeks) for lack of
any assistance. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina we now know that
failures in leadership and preparedness can have a tremendous cost in
both human lives and the destruction of property before, during and
after a disaster. The Brookline Emergency Management Team (EMT) strives
to prepare both municipal government and our residents for all possible
emergencies.
The mission of the Brookline Emergency Management Team (EMT) is to
coordinate local, state, federal, voluntary and private resources during
emergencies and disasters affecting the Town of Brookline. The Brookline
EMT provides leadership to: develop plans for effective response to all
hazards, disasters or threats; train emergency personnel to protect the
public; provide information to the citizenry; and assist individuals,
families, and businesses to mitigate against, prepare for, and respond
to and recover from emergencies, both natural and manmade.
Shortly after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a group of
Department Heads convened the initial meeting of the Brookline EMT.
Currently, Police Chief Daniel O’Leary is the Chair of the Brookline EMT
and also serves as the Town’s Emergency Management Director. Working
with a team approach, the EMT integrates Police, Fire, Emergency Medical
Services (EMS), Public Health, Public Works, Buildings, Schools,
Recreation and the Human Relations departments into unified command to
respond to emergency situations within the Town. This team has met
regularly with the primary function of developing and integrating,
within the Town, innovative and effective response plans and procedures
for potential disasters. To date, the team has reviewed and improved the
Town’s emergency plans, identified critical infrastructures and
potential targets, reviewed building layouts, secured grant funding,
coordinated training and exercises, and has made security
recommendations for adoption by the Town. These steps have been
undertaken in an effort to increase safety and preparedness throughout
Brookline. The Team has also worked extensively as part of the
Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
which brings Boston, Brookline and seven other Metropolitan Boston
communities together to evaluate and coordinate regional response
capabilities.
During the 2005 year, the Brookline Emergency Management Team (EMT) has
made significant progress in preparing and training for a wide variety
of emergency situations. We have made great strides this year in the
area of safeguarding our residents by drafting new evacuation plans,
identifying and preparing to operate public shelters and emergency
medical dispensing sites and insuring our schools are ready to protect
our children in an emergency. We have begun the process of identifying
our vulnerable populations and special needs facilities as part of our
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The projects undertaken this
year meet the short-term goals of protecting our residents and represent
the long-term commitment from the EMT to ensure the safety of our
citizens and their property. Some of the accomplishments of the EMT in
2005 are:
Planning and Coordination:
> The Town officially adopted through Executive Order the National
Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS)
as its method for managing emergency operations and has revised its
plans and conducted training to ensure NIMS and ICS standards are met.
> The Brookline Emergency Management Team (EMT) and/or its subcommittees
have met over 20 times this year and members of the EMT and or their
supporting staffs have attended over 250 emergency management-related
meetings and conferences in 2005.
> Initiated a complete revision of the Brookline Comprehensive Emergency
Management Plan (CEMP) and began the process of converting to the new
web based eCEMP format developed by the Massachusetts Emergency
Management Agency (MEMA) and rolled out this past October.
> Identifying significant faults in the current regional evacuation
plan, the EMT developed a new Brookline Evacuation Plan as an annex to
the Brookline CEMP. The new plan identifies eight possible evacuation
routes base upon assessments of possible hazards, numerous traffic
control points and establishes protocols for both large-scale and
small-scale evacuations. This plan allows Public Safety and Public Works
officials the flexibility to rapidly develop the best traffic and
barrier plan for the situation. Currently, the cities of Boston and
Newton are reviewing our evacuation plan. After coordinating with the
adjoining communities, we will finalize the Brookline Evacuation Plan.
> Working as part of the EMT, Public Health is revising its Risk
Communications, Emergency Dispensing Sites and Infectious Disease
Emergency plans and when complete they will be incorporated into the
CEMP.
> The School Department has updated its emergency plans and protocols
for each school and has coordinated these efforts with the other
disciplines within the EMT. Each classroom now has an emergency kit that
teachers can use to assure the safety and accountability of the children
in their care. The schools have also worked on notification protocols
insuring parents are informed in the event of an emergency.
> Recognizing that within the Town there are many special needs
populations who would be more at risk during an emergency than the
general population, the EMT, working with the Council on Aging and
several community groups, met to map out a strategy to best serve these
citizens in the event of an emergency. Police and Public Health have
been working to identify our vulnerable populations and special needs
institutions as a first step. The revised CEMP includes sections on
vulnerable populations in the Evacuation and HAZMAT annexes.
> The EMT under the direction of the Fire Department has nearly
completed a comprehensive revision of the Town’s HAZMAT plan which will
both serve as a stand alone document and as an annex in the CEMP. In the
process, the Fire Department identified two facilities with reportable
quantities of hazardous materials which were not previously being
monitored.
> The EMT was instrumental in developing and coordinating the very
successful public safety and traffic control plan for both major
Brookline 300 Festival events.
> The Town designated the Director of Veterans’ Services as the
Emergency Management Coordinator to assist the Emergency Management
Director. The Police Department designated a Police Sergeant to serve as
Homeland Security Coordinator.
Preparedness:
> Completed the build-out of the new Brookline Emergency Operations
Center (EOC). The EMT is currently working with the Metropolitan Boston
Homeland Security Region to obtain UASI grant money to equip the
operations center. When operational, the EOC will be an invaluable asset
to coordinate emergency operations, act as vital communications backup
for the Public Safety Building and be able to perform as a regional
command center for the Metropolitan Boston Area.
> The EMT has identified and coordinated for the use of facilities as
Public Shelters and/or Emergency Medical Dispensing Sites. The EMT has
begun receiving equipment and supplies that will be stored in two mobile
trailers to support shelter and dispensing site operations, (funded
through UASI grants). The EMT has also recruited, trained and equipped a
Civilian Emergency Response Team (CERT) and a Medical Reserve Corps (MRC)
(funded through Homeland Security grants). In a crisis, a critical
mission for the CERT and/or MRC would augment Public Safety and Public
Health personnel at the public shelter(s) or emergency medical
dispensing site(s). The work done this year to establish, equip and
operate shelters and dispensing sites will ensure we are prepared to
care for our residents in the event of an emergency (large or small)
even if aide from outside sources such as Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) or the American Red Cross (ARC) is not readily available.
> On-going work with the UASI’s Metro-Boston Homeland Security Region,
which has provided equipment and training. Focus of this regional group
is prevention, planning, response and recovery from critical incidents
> Working with the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA), the
Water and Sewer Division has taken measures to ensure flood control and
safeguard the town’s water supply.
> A large portable 350kw generator was secured at no cost to the Town
from the MWRA to provide emergency power to public shelter or emergency
medical dispensing sites in the event of a loss of electricity.
Currently, the Public Works is working with the Building Department to
adapt the sites that may need to hook up to this mobile generator. The
Senior Center, Baker School, Lawrence School, New Lincoln School and
High School will be tested for power hookup over the Christmas week and
be operational by January.
> Recruited and trained a second group of Civilian Emergency Response
Team (CERT) members this year and a new class is scheduled for January.
The now 30 strong Brookline CERT Team drew praise at a recent UASI
Managers meeting as the example of how a CERT program should be
organized. In the event of a crisis, the CERT team members would augment
the Town’s staff where appropriate during emergency operations and will
assist Public Safety in preparing the public for emergencies. The team
plans to train an additional 30 members in 2006.
> The EMT, through the Health Department, recruited 70 volunteers from
the medical profession to participate in the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC)
to augment Public Health personnel in an emergency or during a public
health event.
> The Department of Public Works added a computerized key control system
which both provides additional security for the departments vehicles and
equipment and enhances accessibility in the event of an emergency.
> The Police Department has procured personal protective equipment
(HAZMAT) for every officer and has trained all officers to use this
equipment.
> The Fire Department, using $60,000 in state grant money, has purchased
new rescue equipment and trained all Firefighters on how to use the new
equipment.
> Working with consultants hired by UASI, the EMT recently completed an
extensive critical infrastructures site assessment of the Public Safety
Building. In January, the consultants will return and conduct an
assessment of our EOC. Selected personnel from the Town will be
attending a three-day critical infrastructures site assessment class.
Once trained, the assessment team will be able to conduct internal
critical infrastructure site assessments.
Training and Exercises:
> Conducted NIMS (IS-700) and ICS-100 training and certification to all
First Responders and to selected Public Health, Public Works and other
Town employees involved in emergency management. One Deputy Fire Chief
and one Police Sergeant are certified as NIMS instructors.
> Participated in a regional exercise (Operation Atlas) involving a
terrorist attack at Logan Airport and are currently participating in the
planning for the next regional exercise (Operation Poseidon) involving
an incident in Boston Harbor.
> Participated in a UASI sponsored regional tabletop exercise involving
an outbreak of the Avian Flu conducted in Brookline.
> Conducted critical incident tabletop exercises for both major
Brookline 300 Anniversary celebrations.
> Conducted tabletop exercises/workshops dealing with an explosion at
our public schools which exercised the schools plans for evacuation and
notification of parents. The exercise also familiarized school officials
on how to work with public safety personnel during and incident.
> Two police officers certified as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
instructors and all Town police officers and firefighters received WMD
training.
> All Health Department staff received Emergency Medical Dispensing Site
training from the Massachusetts Department of Health.
> Training sessions for the MRC and CERT were conducted including the
avian flu program, emergency dispensing sites, behavioral health in a
disaster, introduction to terrorism and personal protection and
preparedness.
> Training sessions for the CERT have included CPR/AED and first aid,
shelter operations, mass care, disaster services, observing and
reporting suspicious activities and personal preparedness.
> All firefighters have been trained in HAZMAT operations and in
terrorist and explosive recognition.
> The EMT utilized the Norfolk County Mobile Command Post both to
provide public safety command and control the major Brookline 300
Anniversary celebrations and to begin to exercise emergency operations
capabilities and develop EOC protocols.
> All Fire Department Emergency Medical Technicians were recertified.
> The Health Department Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, CERT and MRC
volunteers gained valuable experience aiding Hurricane Katrina evacuees
at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod.
> EMT members and or their supporting staffs have attended over 75
emergency management related training courses in the last year.
Goals for the upcoming year:
As the EMT prepares for the upcoming year it has to take in account the
lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. We look to continue to prepare
for a wide range of incidents from natural disasters like coastal storm,
flooding and the threat of a pandemic to man made disasters such as
terrorism and HAZMAT spills. The Team looks to build on what has been
accomplished this year and continue the never-ending task of
preparedness. Some of the goals for the year 2006 are:
> To have operational the Brookline EOC.
> To have completed the CEMP revision in the eCEMP format.
> To conduct a Town-Wide Emergency Management exercise.
> To have all concerned personnel trained and certified to the next
level in NIMS and ICS.
> After completing the updated HAZMAT Plan to revitalize the LEPC and
submit a provisional application for its certification to MEMA.
> To create a database of critical infrastructures in Town to aide first
responders during a crisis.
> To exercise School Emergency Plans.
> To train an additional 30 CERT Team members.
> To assess additional sites for use as shelters and/or dispensing
sites.
> To provide training programs to the community in the newly developed
UASI P3 community training program concerning personal protection,
preparedness and a introduction to terrorism and reporting suspicious
behavior.
> To secure an interoperable radio channel for all Town agencies.
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