State/Local Officials Working to Prepare for “Next Time”

MONTPELIER, VT ‘With the 2012 hurricane season officially starting on June 1, every Secretary and Commissioner in state government went through special in-depth emergency training at Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) this week to prepare for the next emergency event.
â This training is part of our mission to build back stronger following Irene. Training for emergency response will help our state hone its response for the next big storm,’said Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding. â Our state employees performed with great skill and dedication during and after Tropical Storm Irene, and have learned many lessons from that experience. We know that success in an emergency depends upon being well prepared for the next event.â
VEM staff ran the executives through Incident Command basics, Emergency Operations Plans, and Continuity of Operations Planning among many other tenets of emergency response. The integration of all state agencies has long been an important part of Vermontâ s emergency response, and those agencies have representatives at Vermontâ s Emergency Operations Center during incidents.
Also this week, community leaders from Richmond and Huntington took part in a two-day course offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross on Community Mass Care and Emergency Assistance. Community agencies, public and private organizations, and businesses trained to work together with emergency management and traditional mass care providers to provide services to those affected by a disaster.
The course in Richmond on May 23â 24 is a pilot program. This is only the second time it has been held anywhere in the United States.
â This was an ideal location to pilot the Mass Care and Emergency Assistance training,’said FEMAâ s Federal Coordinating Officer James N. (Nick) Russo. â Irene and last springâ s storms are still fresh in peopleâ s minds and this is when it is easier to commit time to doing something that will have long-term effects.â
In addition to government entities, individuals also need to take responsibility when damaging weather is moving in their direction. Families need to keep an eye on the sky and have an emergency kit and a plan for communicating with each other if they are separated in a storm. More information may be found at http://vem.vermont.gov/preparedness and http://www.ready.gov/.