Emergency Management Update — Briefing to the House Innovation, Community & Economic Development, and Veterans

Summary

Emergency Management Update briefing by Robert Ezelle, Director, Emergency Management Division, Washington Military Department, to the House Innovation, Community & Economic Development, and Veterans Committee on October 20, 2023. It covers earthquake and wildfire updates, state and local capability gaps, the disaster resilience program, cybersecurity and the EMC annual report. The briefing reports that the Gray and Oregon Road Fires burned 29,000 acres and that 368 primary homes were lost, the most in any Washington wildfire. It describes a proposed state Individual Assistance program with a max award per household of $42,500.

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Emergency Management Update
Briefing to the House Innovation, Community & Economic
          Development, and Veterans Committee

                  October 20, 2023

                     Robert Ezelle
       Director, Emergency Management Division
            Washington Military Department
        Earthquake Update
          Wildfire Update
  State and Local Capability Gaps
Disaster Resilience Program Update
       Cybersecurity Update
        EMC Annual Report
Earthquake Update
                 9/8/2023 Marrakech-Safi Earthquake
• Morocco’s M 6.8 earthquake occurred at a depth
  of 10-12 miles
• Intensity IX – Violent
• 3,000 deaths
• 5,500 injuries
• 300,000+ people left without homes
• At least 50,000 buildings totally or partially
  collapsed
  • Highlights the vulnerability of URM structures
                   New Study on Puget Sound Crustal Faults
Finding: The Seattle Fault’s last rupture occurred very
close in time to, or possibly at the same time as the
Saddle Mountain Fault Zone, located just west of the
Hood Canal.

No change in overall likelihood of a Seattle Fault
earthquake (still 5% over the next 50 years)

Possibilities identified in this study:
• Both Faults ruptured together in one Magnitude 7.8
   earthquake
• Two earthquakes, Magnitude 7.3-7.5 occurred
   within a period of months
• Both scenarios will be more damaging than Seattle
   or Tacoma Fault scenarios
Highlights the need for continued work on resilience
Wildfire Update
                   Maui Fires, August 2023
• Exacerbating Factors:
  – Drought conditions
  – Presence of fire-prone invasive shrubs and grasses
  – 80+ mph winds
  – Power outages
  – Public Alert and Warning / Emergency Communications
  – Evacuation
    Gray and Oregon Road Fires, Aug 18 – Sep 1, 2023
• Record or near record temperatures
• Record dryness
• Near record low humidity (single digits)
• 25 – 30 mph winds
• 2 fatalities
• 29,000 acres burned
• 368 primary homes lost, the most in any Washington wildfire
  – 96 Uninsured
             2014-2023 Fire Seasons Observations
• Climate change will continue to drive increasingly severe fire seasons
• WUI encroachment will increase risks to lives and property
• The right set of circumstances could trigger events like the CA Camp
  Fire, and the HI Maui Fires in both eastern and western Washington
• We need to do more to prepare!
  – Alerting
  – Emergency communications
  – Planning, training, exercising
          2023 Gray and Oregon Road Fires – Spokane Co
  Spokane Co Emergency Management received significant assistance from the state
  • The State EOC deployed 20 personnel to Spokane to ensure effective joint local and state
    delivery of response and recovery capabilities. Deployments ranged from 5 days to 14 days in
    duration:
     – EOC Manager, EOC staff (Provided by Dept of Corrections), Disaster Assistance Center staffing, EMD
       agency representative, Staff expert in Human Services, Staff expert in Long Term Recovery
  • Additionally, a total of 23 other resource requests were addressed by the SEOC in support of
    the County and DSHS facilities
     – Evacuation support, communications support, care and feeding of livestock and pets, etc.


Best practice to maximize speed and effectiveness in delivering support for affected people
                                   and communities.
2023 Gray and Oregon Road Fires – State and Federal Assistance
• Federal Assistance:
   – 3 Oct Major Disaster declaration request for Individual Assistance (IA) submitted
     to FEMA
• State Assistance:
   – $1.25 Million from the Governors Emergency Assistance Fund (GEAF) for
     asbestos testing, transitional housing assistance, disaster case management
     services, and other needs assistance.
   – $2.5 Million from the Department of Commerce's Emergency Fund and an
     additional $1.25 Million of the GEAF for uninsured private property debris
     removal.
State and Local Capability Gaps
                           State Individual Assistance Program
• Significant challenges receiving federal Individual Assistance (IA) declarations
• Legislature funded disaster assistance following Nov 21 floods, and an IA study
• EMD is creating rules to guide a state IA program (WAC), ECD Feb – Mar 2024
• Submitted decision package requesting permanent program funding for Individual Assistance for the following:
  – Access to the Disaster Response Account to facilitate this support to individuals, max authorization of $13 million per biennium
    available for this program.
• Under this new program the state would reimburse counties and tribes for individual assistance for the
  following programs (Max award per household = $42,500, matching FEMA's max for similar assistance)
  – Housing assistance: Extended sheltering assistance, Rental assistance, Home repair and home replacement
  – Disaster-Caused Unmet Needs
  – Recovery Support- Disaster Case Management and other admin support
              State Public Infrastructure Assistance Program
• Multiple disasters not rising to the level of a federal public assistance (PA) declaration highlight the
  need for state assistance
   – For every disaster receiving a federal PA declaration at least 10 others do not
• State capability to assist with local and tribal infrastructure repairs is limited to non-existent
• Examples of unmet local PA needs
   – Aberdeen floods
   – 2023 fires – Debris removal
   – Emergency protective measures
• Bill establishing PA program in RCW 38.52 submitted as agency request legislation
    – Requesting update of RCW 38.52 to place a state PA program into statute.
    – $575,000 for contract support to build out a state level PA program (Similar to process conducted for State
      Individual Assistance build out)
    – $5 million be added to the Governor's Emergency Assistance Fund specifically for PA
         Local Emergency Management Capability Gaps
• Nearly all local jurisdictions lack the capability to effectively manage large scale incidents
  without assistance.
    – Snohomish Co. (2014 Mudslide), Okanogan Co. (2014, 2015 Fires), Whitman Co. (2020 Fires),
      Whatcom Co. (2021 Flooding) and Spokane Co. (2023 Fires)
• Outside of wildland firefighting, there are few standing all-hazards incident management
  teams (IMTs) incidents locally or regionally, and those that do exist are costly to deploy
    – Jurisdictions needing assistance often have difficulty finding available qualified resources, and
      those that do cannot often assume the cost of deploying those resources.
• WAMAS has proven insufficient for the rapid and sustained deployment of resources to
  support local EOCs
                Local/Tribal Emergency Management Capacity
                                                          Must perform full spectrum of emergency
                       Counties
                                                          management activities: Planning, training,
          FTEs    Westside    Eastside   Total
                                                          exercising, alert and warning, emergency
          20+          3                     3
                                                          communications, mitigation, grants management,
           5-7         6          1          7
                                                          hazardous materials, response to and recovery
           4           1          3          4
                                                          from incidents and disasters, preparedness,
           3           1          3          4
                                                          continuity, risk assessments, LEP outreach, etc.
          2-2.5       4           6         10
          1-1.5       1           9         10
           .5                     1          1

More than half of Washington counties have fewer than 3
     emergency management personnel assigned.
                        Local EM Planning Capability Gaps
EMD , through stakeholder engagement examined local capabilities for planning statewide and found a common theme – lack of
planning efforts correlates to a lack of staffing at the jurisdictional (county/municipality) level.
1) Critical planning areas include Whole Community and Access and Functional Needs, Operational and Strategic Planning,
    Continuity of Operations and Pre-Incident Planning.
                            Possible Solutions
• State grant program to help fund emergency management capabilities for
  smaller counties
• Build the capacity of local Type 3 all-hazards IMTs to support local EOCs
   – Highly effective during COVID
   – 2023-2025 BIEN Decision Package
• Resource an incident management assistance team (IMAT) at EMD
   – Mirror the capabilities provided to Spokane during this year’s fires
   – When not supporting incidents and disasters, can provide planning, training,
     exercising, grant technical assistance to counties and tribes
   – Can provide the nucleus of EMD regional office(s)
Disaster Resilience Program Updates
                    Disaster Resilience Program
• Implemented by HB 1728 and codified as RCW 38.52.590
• Resilience Unit created in EMD encompassing
   – Disaster resilience program
   – Mitigation program
   – Geo Hazards and outreach program
• Assistant Director for Resilience position description being finalized
   – Banding in Nov
   – Hiring projected in January
• Report due prior to July 2025
        Resilience Challenges – Vertical Evacuation Shelters
• 175 – 300K people live, work, play within the tsunami inundation zone depending on the time of year/day
• A minimum of 58 tsunami vertical evacuation structures are necessary in order to save over 85% of the
  people in the tsunami inundation zone that can’t make it to high ground in time
    – Some communities need several structures (Ocean Shores needs 23)
• At least $10 million per structure (costs continue to go up each year)
• Challenges:
    – The highest risk communities are small and don’t have the necessary funds to meet the required FEMA local match
      (12.5%)
    – It takes 5 to 6 years to complete each project due to how long it takes to get funding, agree on a design (community
      process), and build it
    – Costs such as most or all of the local match, ADA accessibility costs, life-sustaining materials stored on the structure
      (water, food, ponchos, lights, communication equipment, etc.), signage, and maintenance
    – Staffing to conduct outreach, assist with funding applications, and help support the communities throughout the
      entire project
            Resilience Challenges – URM
URM Workgroup identified needs and approach
   • Complete an accurate state-wide URM database for decision-making
   • Develop a dedicated user-centric web portal (with mitigation funding
     options)
   • DAHP agreed to serve as the long-term database host
Funding
   • To develop a URM User portal – DAHP submitted HMGP application
   • For URM database and portal development and maintenance – DAHP
     submitted a Decision Package
   • To collect remaining URM data - multi-faceted approach (funding needed)
Conducted outreach to historic preservation groups and others
Created partnership with Main Street (data collection by volunteers)
   • Conducted a successful pilot survey in Everett (April 2023)
   • Developed guidance on “how to conduct URM inventories in your
     community”
         Resilience Challenges Immediate Occupancy
• Many of our most critical facilities and much of our infrastructure will not be functional
  after a major earthquake.
• Current Washington State building codes (2021) for new construction primarily focus on life
  safety protection for typical structures.
• In order for emergency crews to be able to rapidly respond, for critical facilities to be
  functional (hospitals, fire stations, police stations, schools etc.), and for people to have
  shelter and refuge post-earthquake, we need to implement immediate occupancy
  /functional recovery into our building codes for certain types of facilities and structures.
• To better understand what is needed to achieve immediate occupancy/functional recovery
  in WA, a study should be conducted.
Cybersecurity Update
                 Cybersecurity Program
• Coordinates cybersecurity prevention and protection activities
  across the critical infrastructure and local government sectors.
• Facilitate the Cybersecurity Advisory Council
• Maintains the state's Significant Cyber Incident Annex to the
  state's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP)
• Coordinates information sharing and resource allocation during
  and after a significant cyber incident.
         Cybersecurity Advisory Committee
• Established through 2SSB5518       • Introductory Meeting – October
  (2023)                               26, 2023
• A committee of the state's         • Annual report to the Emergency
  Emergency Management Council         Management Council
• Provides advice and                • Invited representation from:
  recommendations to strengthen         – State agencies
  cybersecurity in both industry        – Federal agencies
  and government across all critical    – Tribal governments
  infrastructure sectors.               – Critical infrastructure
                                         owner/operators
                                       – Academia & non-profits
               State and Local Cybersecurity Grant
Purpose: assist state, local, and tribal governments with
managing and reducing systemic cyber risk, improving the
security of critical infrastructure and the resilience of services.
  Federal leads: Program is jointly administered by FEMA (grant processing) and CISA
  (approvals)
  State leads:
      • Washington Technology Services (WaTech) is the technical lead and facilitator
        of the Planning Committee; the Chief Information Officer is the primary
        decision maker
      • Washington Military Department (WMD)/Emergency Management Division
        (EMD) as the State Administrative Agency (SAA) manages the funding to
        include passthrough agreements
        State and Local Cybersecurity Grant – FY22
• Available: $3,666,530 federal plus $407,393 match (state funding)
• Allocated: ~$3.8 million (federal funding & match) through a
  competitive process
  • 143 projects ($15.5 million) submitted – huge associated workload to
    review and score
     • Lots of need across the state
  • 94 projects selected for funding across 71 subrecipients (tribes, cities,
    counties, special purpose districts, and state agencies)
  • Hit all grant objectives (planning, assessment/evaluation, mitigation
    measures, and training)
• Waiting for CISA review and approval then projects can begin
        State and Local Cybersecurity Grant – FY23
• Available: $7,403,503 federal plus $1,805,876 match (state funding)
• Allocated: ~$2.5 million (federal funding & match) from FY22
  project submissions
  • 21 projects selected for funding across 20 subrecipients (tribes, cities,
    counties, special purpose districts, and state agencies)
  • Hit all grant objectives (planning, assessment/evaluation, mitigation
    measures, and training)
• Application submitted to FEMA 10/6
• 19 projects were flagged for resubmission and possible funding
• Competitive application period will open early first quarter 2024
EMC Annual Report to the Governor
      Emergency Management Council Annual Report
1. Cascadia Rising 2022 (CR22) Exercise Highlights Areas for Improvement
2. Healthcare System Stressed by Multiple Challenges
3. Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure at Risk
4. Managing the Risk of Lithium-Ion Batteries and Other Stored-Energy Technology
5. Washington Mutual Aid System (WAMAS) Can Provide More Response Resources
6. Hazard Mitigation and Risk Reduction Needs Outweigh Available Resources
               Cascadia Rising 2022 Critical Transportation Findings
• Washington state does not have the information available to understand how damage to the
  transportation infrastructure will impact the ability to move resources after a major earthquake
• Washington does not have a plan that establishes a defined system for identifying how
  transportation infrastructure will be prioritized after a major incident.
• Washington State Department of Transportation has pre-emptively identified over 300 unstable
  slopes that may impact the highway system.
• There is not a clear determination of how many bridge inspectors and/or inspections teams are
  needed or need to be activated during a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.
• Studies are needed to support planning/development of mitigation strategies to improve maritime
  resiliency.
• Washington state does not have a comprehensive approach to Maritime response planning.
• Washington state does not have a good grasp on how rail infrastructure could be impacted by a
  catastrophic earthquake.
       Cascadia Rising 2022 Mass Care and Sheltering Findings
• In the event of a large disaster sheltering needs will far outpace the capabilities
    – Identified need to establish comprehensive mass care service and support plans, agreements and
      resource support requirements to include emergency sheltering
    – Current knowledge of local sheltering capacity beyond American Red Cross (ARC) support is
      limited and varies across the state.
    – After a Cascadia Subduction Zone event, survivors will likely travel to alternative locations for
      sheltering. A study would need to be conducted before the state can properly understand
      potential and likely movement of populations, post major disaster event.
• The State of Washington and the Northwest Region of the ARC is properly postured to meet
  the anticipated sheltering needs following a regularly experienced disasters
    – ARC's goal is to stand up shelters when called upon within 2 hours of a request
    – Can draw physical and human resources from stockpiles within the state and nationwide
      Emergency Management Council Annual Report
1. Cascadia Rising 2022 (CR22) Exercise Highlights Areas for Improvement
2. Healthcare System Stressed by Multiple Challenges
3. Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure at Risk
4. Managing the Risk of Lithium-Ion Batteries and Other Stored-Energy Technology
5. Washington Mutual Aid System (WAMAS) Can Provide More Response Resources
6. Hazard Mitigation and Risk Reduction Needs Outweigh Available Resources
                       EMD Legislative Agenda
• Decision package to fund a state IA program
• Decision package to fund a study for a state PA program
• Decision package for continued funding of DRA
• 3 Bills
  • Establish a state PA program
  • Technical correction to RCW 38.56 Intrastate Mutual Aid System
     • Expanding applicability to special purpose and junior taxing districts
  • Technical correction to RCW 38.52 Emergency Management
     • Clarifies emergency workers, and allows tribal participation
Questions/Discussion


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