Pierce County Department of Emergency Management

1. Pierce County Department of Emergency Management Kristin Tinsley Public Information Officer Public Educator PC-NET Coordinator 2501 South 35th St. Suite D Tacoma, WA 98409 253-798-3686

2. Emergency Management • Preparedness & Public Education • Planning & Mitigation • Response & Recovery • Emergency Medical Services (EMS) • Fire Prevention Bureau • Enhanced 9-1-1 • Radio Communications • Washington State Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (WATF-1) DEM Divisions

3. The role of the Pierce County EOC is to facilitate the: Overall coordination of emergency activities Coordination with other agencies and jurisdictions Coordination of mutual aid Establishment of priorities Collection, evaluation, and dissemination of damage information and emergency public information Implementation of policy as needed Pierce County Emergency Operations Center Stop by for a tour!

4. EOC Activation Levels There are three levels of activation of the Pierce County EOC: Level I activation: Involves minor emergencies which can be handled by the duty officer without formal activation of the Pierce County EOC. Level II activation: Involves incidents which have special characteristics requiring response by multiple agencies, requires the acquisition and/or use of special resources which would require partial or limited activation of the Pierce County EOC. Level III activation: Involves incidents which require the coordinated response of all levels of government and emergency services to save lives and protect property.

5. ICS General Staff

6. Joint Information Center (JIC) A facility established to coordinate all incident related public information activities on-scene. It is the central point of contact for all news media at the scene of the incident. Public information officials from participating federal, State, local, and tribal agencies and nongovernmental entities also may co-locate at the JIC.

7. Policy Room

8. Media Room

9. Liaison to the EOC IT Pod Radio Communications & Dispatch Sheltering Team Call Taker Room

10. Mobile Operations Command Center

11. Emergency Management Lifecycle Mitigate: reduce or eliminate risks to persons or property Prepare: before a disaster strikes, not during Respond: activities that address the short-term, direct effects, of an incident Recover: address both long-term and short-term recovery

12. Helping Neighbors Help Themselves Pierce County Communities

13. You might ask yourself…why PC-NET? Consider this scenario… • A 7.8 earthquake strikes your neighborhood • Large amount of damage to infrastructure • Large number of injuries and fatalities • 911 database is overwhelmed • Local landlines are down • Only half of the first responders were able to make it to work…the ones that did are overwhelmed • You got lucky and are not injured, but you know that others are either injured or trapped

14. What do you do? YOU become the FIRST RESPONDER YOU rely on your NEIGHBORS for help NEIGHBORS rely on YOU for help

15. PC-NET brings neighborhoods together to formulate a planBEFORE the disaster strikes, not DURING • Lives can be saved. • Property can be protected. • Emergency providers can get important information.

16. Pierce County Hazards • Avalanche • Dam Failure • Earthquake • Epidemic (Human) • Flooding • Hazmat (NBC) • Snow and Ice Storms • Terrorism • Transportation Accidents • Warfare - Conventional • Windstorm Civil Unrest Drought Epidemic (Animal) Fire Global Warming Landslide Subsidence Tornado Tsunami Volcanic Hazards Warfare (NBC)

17. Building a PC-NET Neighborhood The program requires just a small investment of time and effort. It is FREE. And you will find… You can make a difference if you have a plan.

18. PC-NET Sequence of Events 4. Tabletop 5. Walk-aboutExercise 6. Response 101 3. NAT Crime Prevention 7. Functional Drill 2. Team Formation 1. Introduction 8. Annual Update

19. PC-NET begins at home…. You cannot help your neighbors if you aren’t prepared yourself. The handbook you receive provides clear, easy to follow guidelines for personal and home preparedness.

20. ….then moves to the neighborhood • Neighbors plan ahead of time how they will respond as a group to a disaster. • Sign up for teams • Gather team supplies • Practice with drills • No special skills or training required except first aid. • CPR Sunday • American Red Cross • First aid & CPR • Disaster Response Training

21. Neighborhoods You define your neighborhood— generally 25-50 homes -- similar to a block watch program.

22. Prepared Neighborhoods are Safe Neighborhoods • Neighborhoods that are prepared recover faster than those that aren’t • Aware and trained neighborhoods strengthen the fabric of homeland security • Neighborhoods with an active crime prevention program experience measurable reductions in crime.

23. You can make a difference… If you have a PLAN

24. Choose one of the following Disaster Response Teams Block Coordinator Safety & Security Light Search & Rescue First Aid Sheltering & Special Needs Communications Damage Assessment

25. 9 Response Steps Care for the home Dress for safety Shut off natural gas –if necessary Shut off water Post OK/HELP Card Put Fire Extinguishers outside Go to Response Site Use task descriptions– 2 people Return to Response Site

26. QUESTIONS? Kristin Tinsley PC-NET CoordinatorGig Harbor, Key Peninsula, Steilacoom, Lakewood, University Place & DuPont