Monday, October 16th Presentations

School safety is a critical issue that affects millions of students, parents, and educators across the world. Unfortunately, many schools face vulnerabilities that compromise the safety of students, staff, and the community. Understanding these vulnerabilities is critical to creating a safe learning environment and protecting students from harm.

One of the most common vulnerabilities in school safety is the lack of effective access control measures. Schools must have robust access control protocols that limit access to the campus to authorized personnel only. This can include visitor sign-in processes, surveillance systems, and access control technology like ID cards or biometric systems.

Another significant vulnerability is the lack of emergency preparedness planning, specifically threat assessment planning. Schools must develop and implement comprehensive emergency plans that cover a wide range of potential threats, including natural disasters, violence, and medical emergencies, but most importantly the potential threat that goes unnoticed because of a lack of a true Threat Assessment Plan. All these plans should involve collaboration with local law enforcement agencies and include regular drills and exercises to ensure that staff and students are well-prepared in the event of an emergency.

In conclusion, schools must address these vulnerabilities to ensure that students and staff are safe and secure. By implementing effective vulnerability assessments that address possible issues with access control measures and emergency preparedness planning, schools can create a safer and more secure learning environment for all.

FEMA’s Whole Community approach to Disaster Recovery has core objectives that focus on engaging the whole community: (1) Understanding and meeting the actual needs of the whole community; (2) Engaging and empowering all parts of the community; and (3) Strengthening what works well in communities on a daily basis. This session will offer an overview of these core objectives and how the Functional Assessment Service Team (FAST) program can strengthen your agency’s whole community engagement practices.

This program is designed to provide an overview of the EMS Preparedness Coordination Program in the Commonwealth. It will also provide details about the deployable assets available to EMS Providers and Healthcare Facilities in crisis. The program will also highlight the request process for those assets and show practical applications of the assets in the field. 

This presentation will cover GIS and its use in hazard mitigation risk assessment and vulnerability assessment. This presentation will cover open data sources for hazard mitigation planning and the use of datasets in determining how a hazard will impact a community and what the vulnerability is for a community. This presentation will also discuss the new definition for community lifelines in hazard mitigation and how those locations can be determined using research and data sources.

Lawyers play a critical role in disaster response and recovery. Survivors of natural disasters may face a wide variety of legal issues, including document replacement, utility shutoffs, landlord/tenant disputes, FEMA applications and recoupments, and so much more. Lawyers can work collaboratively with VOAD members and emergency managers to offer a holistic approach to disaster recovery. Raising awareness of disaster legal aid services to the public at large as well as with volunteer organizations and public agencies is crucial in ensuring rapid response to natural disasters. Join Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) to learn about the importance of disaster legal services, promoting disaster legal services through communications, and how volunteer lawyers and nonprofit legal aid organizations can bolster disaster recovery in Pennsylvania.

Going beyond the website descriptions of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security (CISA) Protective Security Advisor (PSA) services, the Pennsylvania Protective Security Advisor team will delve into the outcomes of how some agencies and companies have leveraged their local PSA-delivered assessments, training, and exercises into tangible organizational benefits that are directly applicable to other entities and the first responders who serve them. Demonstrating success in these free protection, prevention, and resilience services and the underlying story of partnership it entails makes our joint effort most advantageous.

Over the past several years C&S Wholesale Grocers has navigated a rapidly-evolving threat landscape; COVID-19, severe weather, labor disruptions, and the risk of cyber threats have all presented varying challenges to the food supply chain. As the severity and frequency of natural hazards increase due to climate change, and geopolitical unrest and labor issues persist, C&S has developed a range of solutions to support business continuity and ensure that food and water can reach impacted communities before, during, and after disasters. These solutions are informed, in part, by local, state, and federal policies and priorities. 
Public/private partnerships are critical to supporting communities when disaster strikes; the whole community approach requires well-organized collaboration across stakeholders and with the private sector. This presentation will discuss C&S’ journey in engaging with public sector partners, examples of partnerships in action, and provide a roadmap in establishing and navigating these important relationships. C&S Wholesale Grocers is the largest wholesale grocer in the United States, supplying more than 7,500 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases, and institutions with over 100,000 different products.

This joint presentation by the Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center and Federal Bureau of Investigation will provide emergency management personnel an understanding of swatting, common identifiers, tactics, and trends, offering both a Pennsylvania-specific and national-level perspective. Swatting is not new; however, given the inherent dangers associated with swatting calls and recent upticks in incidents, it is essential that emergency management personnel be informed and prepared for an incident. The presentation will also offer suggestions for emergency management professionals to help respond to and mitigate swatting incidents.

The COVID-19 pandemic has, in many ways, highlighted the limitations of traditional emergency management and our approaches to preparedness.  Current trends have shown the need and value in integrating outside of silos of planning, training, and exercise.  The presentation aims to inspire emergency managers to explore the benefits of an integrated approach by providing actionable steps to help implement it successfully.  Furthermore, to provide insights and best practices for organizations seeking to implement an integrated approach to emergency management by highlighting success stories, funding opportunities, and the importance of collaboration to build stronger partnerships and improve emergency preparedness efforts.

Everyone knows county-level THIRA/SPRs are not required by PEMA or FEMA and have traditionally been completed at a regional level. However, THIRA/SPRs should drive everything that we do at a county and local level, which should then be implemented into our Integrated Preparedness Plan. Join this session to learn how you can start a THIRA/SPR process within your own county, how you can utilize it within your regional submission, and how completing your own THIRA/SPR can impact your comprehensive emergency management program.

Communication with your local state elected representatives on public safety matters is important because they have the power to enact laws and policies that directly affect your community. As their constituent, your input and concerns are important to them and can help shape their decisions to ensure that public safety issues are addressed effectively. Advocating to elected state representatives on public safety legislation is also an important way for local and county emergency managers to ensure that their communities have the resources and support they need to stay safe. 

The Incident Command System (ICS) provides an important foundation to incident management by grounding us in standards, providing structure and processes which help mitigate against the fact that all incidents themselves are unique. Our greatest obstacle to effective incident management, however, is overreliance on ICS. ICS is not the solution to incident management – it’s a tool.  For incident management to be truly effective, we need to think beyond ICS.

Effective incident management requires proven leadership and management skills at all levels, not just of the incident commander. Further, effective incident management requires a grasp of emergency management, especially an awareness of plans and capabilities of partner agencies and organizations. Incident managers must also understand the fundamentals of project management and apply them within the scope of incident action planning and execution of those plans.

Incident management is also a technical skill, and one that can diminish over time. To maintain proficiency, it requires use, practice, and continued training to learn new approaches and tools. This presentation will discuss all these factors and more to support a more comprehensive perspective of incident management, beyond ICS.

The 3rd CST has participated in many exercises, planned large events and responses over the years.  In that time faces and names have changed but the overall mission of each agency has not.  In order to be prepared for any challenges of tomorrow, solid partnerships need to be built to effectively prevent hazards and protect the people of the local communities.  It has been said many times that communication is the key.  Endless training can prepare one for emergency responses but if effective communication is not achieved during times of immediate response, all the training cannot make up for the inability to communicate tasks or objectives.  The 3rd CST provides unique abilities to enable means of communication when other methods are unavailable or to keep mixed agency response teams unified.  In addition to a suite of communications assets, the 3rd CST has medical subject matter experts, highly trained to identify CBRN signs and symptoms and provide recommendations for proper medical care.  The ability to identify such hazards and properly communicate to local hospitals or emergency response assets is a key way to ensure each individual affected has a chance to face tomorrow without doing it alone.  

This presentation focuses on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in emergency management. It begins with an overview of emergency management and emphasizes the importance of using AI in this field. The presentation then delves into the definition of AI, its different types, and the various applications of AI in emergency management. The use of AI in disaster preparedness, emergency response, and post-disaster recovery is explained, with a detailed discussion of predictive analytics for disaster planning, AI-powered risk assessment, automated emergency response planning, real-time situational awareness, AI for resource allocation, and AI for decision-making during emergencies. The presentation also covers the challenges and opportunities in using AI in emergency management, best practices for implementing AI, ethical considerations, and the importance of collaboration and communication. Furthermore, the presentation showcases case studies of successful implementation of AI in emergency management and real-life scenarios showcasing the benefits of AI. The potential advancements in AI for emergency management and future outlook for AI-based emergency management are also discussed. The presentation concludes with a recap of the key takeaways and the significance of using AI in emergency management.

Experience a unique approach to emergency preparedness with a realistic training exercise that goes beyond the typical tabletop exercises. In this exercise, participants assume roles relevant to their real-world titles and engage in simulated emergency scenarios in a miniature city complete with detailed structures, industries, and infrastructure.
With constantly changing and growing experiences and events that can be simulated, this training engages everyone from entry-level firefighters to emergency managers and elected officials. Participants can encounter both simple and complex scenarios that involve discussion, critique, and learning.
This training exercise proves that there are many correct ways to accomplish the basic mission of saving lives and protecting property. Moreover, it emphasizes proactivity, which is a key goal of first responders and emergency management. As Sun Tsu famously said, “Every battle is won before it is fought.” Participating in this exercise, you can be fully prepared in the relative comfort of a classroom and the compressed space of a model town. Take your emergency preparedness to the next level.

This engaging presentation will shed light on the pivotal partnership that exists between FEMA Region 3 and PEMA, showcasing their combined efforts to enhance disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience across the region. Discover the intricate web of strategies, resources, and initiatives that FEMA Region 3 and PEMA have woven together to create a robust emergency management framework.

With the recent focus on long-term recovery from the White House for disaster operations from Kentucky to Florida, federal interagency teams, known as recovery support functions (RSFs), are being sent earlier to the disaster operations to support long-term recovery. But what are the RSFs and what do they do to support long-term recovery in communities post-disaster? Does Pennsylvania have these in place too, and what do they do? And, what can communities do now, pre-disaster, to ensure similar structures are in place at the local level to help them plan and manage recovery post-disaster?
This presentation provides an overview of the key concepts of the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), specifically the federal interagency coordination structure, the Recovery Support Functions (RSFs). The presentation will discuss the RSF activation process and how the RSFs work together and with state and local governments, as well as other organizations, to identify and address long-term recovery issues and challenges communities are facing post-disaster.
At the state level, the presentation will also discuss PA’s established recovery coordination structure and how its commonwealth-level RSFs were stood up during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they operated to support recovery from the pandemic, as well as Hurricane Ida. Additionally, the presentation will discuss how PA’s RSF structure was incorporated into the development of PA’s Hazard Mitigation Plan, currently in the update process.

The world of emergency management is filled with young professionals looking to make an impact and leave the industry in a better place than what they’ve found it. Sometimes, as a young person, it may be difficult to find the path to do so. Join this session to learn principles of how to lead and win in emergency management as a young person to make an impact on people and communities.

This course will provide necessary information for effective decision making at the local level. Townships, Boroughs and emergency service organizations serve diverse communities volunteers and increased costs. This training seminar will use lecture, small group discussions, and facilitated brainstorming to identify solutions to sustain or improve fire service in your community.

The presentation will primarily focus on NextDoor. As such, NextDoor is a unique social media platform that is designed to be a local communications tool. This neighborhood forum subverts some of the rules of social media engagement and can lead to a high volume of genuine engagement with individuals and families. After eight months of data collection, the region has learned some best practices, potential pitfalls, and rules of the road for this platform. Additionally, this presentation will go over the foundational principles of information management on social media for emergency management purposes. Topics will hit on recognizing rumors, misinformation, and disinformation, and explain how to vet and report social media data through a variety of techniques. 

Borrowing from Civil-Military Relations (CMR) theory, this presentation will introduce participants to concepts associated with the relationship between emergency management (EM) leaders and elected officials. The latter are responsible for establishing priorities and making key decisions for their municipalities, but the political realities of our democratic system factor into their decision-making. Conversely, their EM leaders have the professional expertise and (often) the institutional knowledge to resolve emergencies in the most effective manner but are obligated to carry out the decisions made by the elected officials. EM leaders also generally have limited authority, but have a tremendous amount of responsibility during a disaster, so much so that EM leaders may be scapegoated afterwards if the public believes that the municipality’s response was lacking.

This interactive presentation will familiarize participants with various CMR models to help them frame their own relationships with elected officials and discuss the challenges. Emphasis will be given to  the professional ethics of EM leaders in challenging situations. Participants will also be invited to participate in research to better understand the unique relationship between EM Professionals and elected officials.

In this session we will discuss the May 2024 Keystone 6 Mass Care Exercise. This exercise will be hosted by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PADHS) and will be the basis for PEMA’s spring all hazards exercise.

The exercise will be based on a real-world incident that prompts a large-scale feeding and sheltering response and Stafford Act Declaration. PADHS’s play will be limited to response and early recovery activities and will include establishment of a Commonwealth Managed Shelter and activation of the Commonwealth’s Mass Care Task Forces. Coordination between states and among various levels of government, the private sector, NGO, and VOADs is expected. KEMA Conference attendees are welcome to learn how they can participate in 2024’s exercise which is planned to be a bigger, better, bolder version of the 2016 Keystone 6 Exercise.

During this session participants will also receive an overview of PADHS staff and assets available to bolster local level mass care capabilities. This includes the Commonwealth Managed Sheltering program, trained Disaster Human Services Response Team, sheltering and communications equipment, Functional Assessment Service Team (FAST), Disaster Accessibility Kits, and coordination support for disaster caused Feeding, Sheltering, and Disability related needs via operational/planning Task Forces.

Experience a unique approach to emergency preparedness with a realistic training exercise that goes beyond the typical tabletop exercises. In this exercise, participants assume roles relevant to their real-world titles and engage in simulated emergency scenarios in a miniature city complete with detailed structures, industries, and infrastructure.
With constantly changing and growing experiences and events that can be simulated, this training engages everyone from entry-level firefighters to emergency managers and elected officials. Participants can encounter both simple and complex scenarios that involve discussion, critique, and learning.
This training exercise proves that there are many correct ways to accomplish the basic mission of saving lives and protecting property. Moreover, it emphasizes proactivity, which is a key goal of first responders and emergency management. As Sun Tsu famously said, “Every battle is won before it is fought.” Participating in this exercise, you can be fully prepared in the relative comfort of a classroom and the compressed space of a model town. Take your emergency preparedness to the next level.