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Recommendations on Homeland Security and
Emergency Management Improvements
CSFCA
Members,
We are
being provided with a unique opportunity to improve
Colorado’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management
programs. In order to ensure that this process adequately
considers the needs of the Colorado fire service it is
important that we have your input. Unfortunately, the
window of opportunity to provide input is relatively short.
Background Information
At the March 4th CSFCA
General Membership meeting, CDPS
Executive Director Jim Davis, DFS
Director Kevin Klein, GOHS Director
Larry Trujillo, and CDEM Director Hans
Kallam discussed Gov. Hickenlooper’s
desire to
identify opportunities to improve
Colorado’s Homeland Security (HS) and
Emergency Management (EM) programs.
This was partially in response to the
recommendations of the Hickenlooper
Transition Team report on Homeland
Security and Emergency Management.
[See:
Hickenlooper
Transition Team Report HLS-DEM]
The Administration officials provided an
overview of the Scope and Milestones of
the process. They reported on the
creation of the “HS/EM
Change Committee” to receive and review
stakeholder input, discuss issues and
formulate recommendations for the
Administration to consider. The
meeting also provided an open forum for
the attending members to ask questions
and give feedback to the Administration
officials.
As indicated by the Administration
officials, the first round of input was
due to the HS/EM
Change
Committee by March 18, 2011
followed by a series of conference calls
that were held on March 22-29th.
I appointed a workgroup, chaired by
Chief Joe Bruce of North Metro Fire
Rescue and CSFCA’s Representative on the
SAHAC, to provide the Association’s
formal input in the
HS/EM
Change Committee process.
[See:
CSFCA’s initial
letter to the HS/EM
Change Committee]
As a result of stakeholder input
received to date, both in writing and
via conference calls, the HS/EM Change
Committee drafted the recommendations
below.
Your review of these recommendations
would be appreciated. If you have any
comments regarding these
recommendations, please send them to
the HS/EM
Change
Committee by April 17th at: change.committee@googlegroups.com.
So we
can maintain a “finger on the pulse” of
the needs of our members, please also
copy the CSFCA Executive Director on
your comments at:
paul@colofirechiefs.org, who will
compile them for use by the CSFCA Board.
HS/EM Change Committee 1st Draft
Recommendations
Message from the HS/EM Change Committee:
“From the feedback, we heard consensus
on areas that needed improvement along
with areas that are achieving varying
levels of success which some groups
would prefer not change. The
recommendations below attempt to capture
changes that will improve efficiency,
effectiveness and elegance (customer
service) at the local and state level
using a “form follows function
approach,” toward improving state
government. The focus is on outcomes,
or in other words, the “WHAT” should be
changed, not “How, Who or Where.””
Acronyms: Homeland Security (HS),
Emergency Management (EM), Public Health
(PH), Colorado Information Analysis
Center (CIAC), State All Hazards
Advisory Committee (SAHAC), Governor’s
Office of Homeland Security (GOHS).
Topic 1: Grant Administration, Training
and Exercises
Recommendation 1)
Move current state grant administration
of federal HS, EM and Department of
Justice (DOJ) grants under a single
grant administration and management
process in order to take advantage of
efficiencies of scale, leverage existing
grant management systems that have been
fully developed and streamline the
application process.
Recommendation 2)
Develop a grant clearinghouse that helps
coordinate state and federal grants
under a single entity in order to
leverage grants, ensure efficiency,
enhance unity of effort and avoid
redundancy. This includes all HS, EM,
PH, DOJ, Agriculture, DOLA and other
grants related to homeland security,
emergency management and first
response. The clearinghouse should use
the process identified in recommendation
one, (above) to facilitate finding the
best fit for grant applicants. Sector
specific subject matter experts will
continue to be an integral part of the
allocation process.
Recommendation 3)
Move current HS, EM, and PH training and
exercise programs under a single
coordinating entity. Sector specific
subject matter experts will continue to
develop and deliver training and
exercise for specific disciplines within
the coordinating entity.
Recommendation 4)
Create a single training and exercise
calendar and point of contact accessible
to all stakeholders.
Recommendation 5)
Consolidate training and certification
information management systems (e.g.,
CO-Train, CitizenServe and other
systems), to the extent possible.
Topic2: Risk Communications,
Information Sharing and Systems
Recommendation 6) Put all State HS/EM/PH
emergency related public risk
communications under one process and a
single entity for coordination and
information distribution.
Recommendation 7) Assign a single
reporting entity and standardized
information sharing process for all
State level HS/EM/PH related emergencies
/ incidents (ensure that stakeholders
vertically and horizontally are
integrated, e.g., Governor, State
Agencies, Local Entities, Private
Sector, Federal Partners, Regional
Response Coordination Center, National
Operations Center, etc.
Recommendation 8) Establish a single
process for identifying, developing and
updating Prevent and Protect related
information products produced and
distributed by the CIAC.
Recommendation 9) Establish an entity
(committee) of state and local users to
review existing and evolving HS/EM/PH
operating and information systems to
issue state guidance on purchasing, use
and overall integration of these
systems. This entity must ensure we
have the right information systems, that
they are interoperable, be led by the
users of the systems and supported by
the Office of Information Technology.
Topic 3: State Level Emergency Response
Recommendation 10) Establish a
standardized and understood process for
identifying the State Lead for state
level HS/EM incidents based on agency
responsibility, governors designation
and the existing doctrine (e.g., State
Emergency Operations Plan, State
Resource Mobilization Plan). Consolidate
multiple state emergency operating plans
as much as is practical.
Recommendation 11) Establish an entity
of state and local stakeholders to
oversee and seek improvements in the
state wildfire preparedness and response
systems and processes. Seek improvements
efficiency, effectiveness and elegance
focusing initially on:
a)
Initial Attack
b)
All Hazards response structure
c)
Wildfire responsiveness in the Wildland
Urban Interface
d)
Dispatch System recognizing and using
locally available response resources.
e)
Structure of the Colorado State Forest
Service
Topic 4: State HS/EM Governance
Recommendation 12) Establish a single
governing body to oversee and guide all
state level HS/EM/PH related
preparedness, mitigate, prevent,
protect, respond and recovery actions
(an Oversight Board that includes
representation from a conglomerate of
stakeholders). This governing body would
oversee the strategy, policy and
execution of the State’s HS/EM programs
and replace existing multiple state
level boards with overlapping concerns
and personnel, e.g., GEEERC, SAC, SAHAC, CIAC
Board, CEPC, etc.
Topic5: Private Sector / NGO
Integration
Recommendation 13) Integrate the
Private Sector into all aspects of the
State’s HS/EM Programs (e.g.,
Recommendations from Topics 1, 2 and 4
of this document).
Here are the revised milestones for this
change process:
April 17: Suspense date for latest
Stakeholder comments
April 21: Executive Directors of DPS, DOLA
and GOHS review recommendations.
May 2: Executive directors present
recommendations to the Governor’s Office
Again, this is an important opportunity
to improve Colorado’s Homeland Security
and Emergency Management program. Your
input is critical to ensuring local fire
service needs are considered in the
change identification process.
Thank you for your involvement in this
important process.
Steve
Steven J. Pischke, President
Colorado State Fire Chiefs' Association
Dep. Chief, Mountain View Fire
Protection District
Email:
spischke@colofirechiefs.org
Posted 04/08/11 |
