March 2014

NCTCOG

Inside this Issue:

Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA WX)

2

Emergency Management Working Group

2

Public Education Subcommittee

2

FEMA Award Certificate 3

North Central Texas Safe Room

3

Emergency Preparedness Newsletter

2014 Integrated Warning Team Workshop The third annual North Central Texas Integrated Warning Team (IWT) Workshop was held on March 5th. The workshop was the largest to date, with over 150 attendees from Amateur Radio, Elected Officials, Emergency Management, Media, School Safety Officials, the National Weather Service, and many more.

The main topic for this year's IWT was the severe weather events from 2013, including the May 15th tornadoes and the early December winter weather. Bill Bunting, former Meteorologist in Charge for the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Fort Worth, facilitated a two hour discussion which focused on the stream of weather information that is oftentimes uncertain. Takeaways from the workshop identified the need for basic radar interpretation training, NWSChat training, as well as the need for additional information on the uncertainty of terms used in NWS email briefings.

Another topic of discussion was the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). These are alerts that will go to cellphones for tornado warnings and flash flood warnings, as well as Amber Alerts. These alerts are designed to slightly over-warn for areas, as the warnings go out to the cell phone towers within (or near) the actual warning.

The last topic was the upcoming CASA WX season. Three CASA WX radars are up and running now, and additional radars will be installed for this year's storm season. Especially for this year, the high resolution radar data will be used to determine the benefits and limitations with the data.

Page 2 Emergency Preparedness

The fourth Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA WX) radar was installed in the town of Addison.

Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA WX)

There are two more radar installations planned for the upcoming months, just in time for severe storm season. Data from the six radars will be available to CASA WX Program members. To join, agencies must pay annual membership dues. The dues collected will go towards the operational expenses of the radar network. If you are interested in becoming a CASA WX Program Member please contact Amanda Everly at aeverly@nctcog.org or 817-695-9214.

Emergency Management Working Group As a result of recommendations from the North Central Texas Urban Shield After Action Review, NCTCOG is facilitating an Emergency Management Working Group to discuss State Homeland Security Grant Program funding opportunities, regional needs, and specific Emergency Management needs. Emergency Managers from various urban and rural jurisdictions will be participating and sharing their best practices as well as focus on regional efforts that can be improved. The group has met twice and has identified several concepts to submit as grant applications. The planning and collaboration from this group will benefit Emergency Management throughout the entire region. The next meeting will be held in April.

For more information about the Emergency Management Working Group please contact Molly Thoerner at mthoerner@nctcog.org or 817-608-2322.

Photo courtesy of: Rosa Baca/neighborsgo staff photographer

Mark Acevedo, director of general services for the town of Addison, stands next to the town's recently installed Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere radar unit.

Public Education Subcommittee The Regional Public Education Subcommittee submitted a project for FY2012 SHSP funding to create public service announcements made to inform the public on how to prepare for the hazards in the North Central Texas Region.

The Red Media Group based in Austin, TX created 30 and 90 second videos and radio announcements in both English and Spanish. They also created a seven minute video that includes highlights from the North Central Texas Urban Shield and interviews from subject matter experts for severe weather, flooding, wildfire, terrorism and emergency preparedness. These videos have been placed on the KnoWhat2Do website., the KnoWhat2Do YouTube page and the KnoWhat2Do Facebook page. DVD’s and electronic copies are available upon request.

For more information about the Regional Public Education Subcommittee please contact Candice Forsyth at cforsyth@nctcog.org or 817-704-5615.

Page 3 Emergency Preparedness

Enhancing lasting partnerships and proactive Emergency Preparedness initiatives through advocacy, communication, and collaboration.

North Central Texas Council of Governments Emergency Preparedness Department

616 Six Flags Dr. / PO Box 5888 Arlington, TX 76005-5888

Phone: 817-695-9235 Fax: 817-608-2372

http://www.nctcog.org/ep

Upcoming Events

“Last Chance” Skywarn Weather School, March 22, Mansfield, TX

AWR-2013-Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Awareness Course, March 26, Fort Worth, TX

Texas Nixle User Conference, March 27, Fort Worth, TX

Partners in Preparedness (PIP) Forum, March 27, Dallas, TX

North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council Regional Exercise (REGEX) Spring 2014, April 10, Arlington, TX

2014 Baylor Scott & White Health Care Emergency Management Symposium, April 21, Dallas, TX

MGT-328/PER 233-Medical Preparedness and Response to Bombing Incidents, April 28-29, Plano, TX

MGT-409-Community Healthcare Planning and Response to Disasters, May 12, Plano, TX

2014 Texas Emergency Management Conference, May 12-15, San Antonio, TX

National Homeland Security Conference, May 19-22, Philadelphia, PA

PER-211-Medical Management for CBRNE Events, May 22-23, McKinney, TX

For more upcoming events please visit http://www.nctcog.org/ep/calendar.asp

Stephanie Parker recently received a National Community Preparedness Hero Award from FEMA for her volunteer work and dedication to Hood County before, during and after the May 2013 tornado.

Stephanie’s story began in April, 2013, when she recruited, organized and began training Hood County’s first Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). With two units left in the class, three tornadoes tore through Hood County producing catastrophic damage and resulting in six fatalities outside of the city of Granbury. Under Stephanie’s leadership and direction, Hood County’s emerging CERT organized and took on response and recovery tasks that often take years of training to learn. While coordinating these efforts, Stephanie also served as a principal point of contact and coordinator in the Hood County emergency operations center. She became the official Hood County public information officer (PIO) in the initial phases of the incident, and shortly thereafter was named lead for the county’s long term recovery committee (LTRC) efforts. In her spare time, Stephanie also led the Hood County planning team for their hazard mitigation action plan.

FEMA Region VI representatives Randy Meshell and Bill Bischof presented Stephanie with the prestigious award at the March Regional Citizen Corps Council meeting. Also in attendance were Shrylee Fox, FEMA Region VI; State Citizen Corps Manager, Jeffrey Cook; and many local program leaders.

Stephanie is now the Assistant Emergency Management Coordinator in Johnson County.

FEMA Award Recipient

Safe Room Rebate Program The Metro Safe Room Rebate Program has begun dispersing rebate checks to participants. So far, 80 of the 450 participants have received payment and the remaining participants will receive their rebates within the next few months.

The Metro Safe Room Rebate Program provides qualified homeowners in the 4 metro counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant the opportunity to receive a rebate that covers half the cost of construction for an individual safe room, up to $3000. The next round of funding, which will be called the North Central Texas Safe Room Rebate Program, will provide qualified residents in the 16 county region of North Texas with a safe room rebate and will begin to be allocated in May. We are glad to be able to assist homeowners with installing shelters and staying safe during severe weather, and we look forward to assisting more North Texans in the future. Citizens interested in the program can find more information and sign up for the waitlist at https://saferoom.nctcog.org/Aboutus.aspx.