Improving Emergency Response in the National Capital Region

1. Improving Emergency Response in the National Capital Region Workgroup Recommendations Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Task Force on Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for the National Capital Region December 6, 2001

2. Transportation • Identify key personnel from regions primary transportation operating agencies to participate in a conference call in times of emergency to share information and coordinate decision making. • Provide key transportation personnel with the communications means such as Nextel brand connect cellular telephones, dedicated radios,satellite telephones or hardwired landline telephone connection. • Expand and accelerate CapWin deployment. • Deploy dedicated failsafe telecommunications backbone connecting all necessary transportation agencies. • Develop a regional interagency management plan/playbook for emergencies. • Expand the geography of transportation management centers to cover the entire region. Upgrade equipment upgrade to existing centers. • Deploy automatic vehicle location (AVL) system on buses, transportation management and transportation maintenance vehicles.

3. Disaster and Emergency Preparedness • Emergency Alert System(EAS): Recommend that all COG jurisdictions install necessary encoder/decoder equipment in their emergency operations centers and communications centers to speed up the process for warning the public. The EAS equipment allows the media to receive and broadcast emergency information quickly and automatically even if the stations are unattended. Local governments can access the media immediately by encoding the emergency message using EAS equipment. • WAWAS: Recommend that communication discipline be improved on WAWAS by conducting training for both current users as well as any new users that FEMA approves. Require all operators to adhere to written procedures for communicating via WAWAS. • Public Safety Resource Inventory: Update the police, fire and EMS resource information manuals published in the early ’80s on a password protected web site to provide information needed for identifying mutual aid resources and capabilities.

4. Police Chiefs Committee • Interoperability Communications: Support the partnership between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to utilize technological advances such as AGILE (switch), PSWN (extend radio range) and CapWin (data transmission) to ensure radio communications between agencies in the COG region. • Interoperability Communications: Prepare correspondence to ensure the use of COWS/COLTS at emergency incident scenes and petition the federal government for a dedicated cell site for public safety government disciplines in the region. Explore written agreement and possible retainer (if necessary) to ensure delivery at time of incident. • Radio Cache Availability: Public safety agencies request the purchase of 500 portable radios pre-programmed on an 800 Mhz frequency, 1,000 portable batteries and 24 multi-pack battery chargers for use at an incident scene by first responders and non-first responders who are not on 800 Mhz frequencies. • Training: COG should sponsor an annual multi-jurisdictional event involving all aspects of the various committees represented by COG (including PIOs) to provide necessary training participants involving a regional emergency situation. Conduct exercise in Spring, 2002. • Acquire Top Secret Clearances for area Police Chiefs so that critical information can be shared by the FBI.

5. Police Chiefs Committee • The Police Mutual Aid Operational Plan should be updated by the Police Chiefs Planning Sub-Committee and be updated on an annual basis. • COG should review and approve proposed bill that addresses liability in mutual aid situations and that recommended bill be presented to the COG Congressional delegation. • Each local police department procure their own minimum equipment on a one-time basis. COG will explore potential reimbursement for the region on replacement equipment and possible bulk purchasing through COG’s cooperative purchasing program or from the GSA Schedule.

6. Fire Chiefs Committee • Health officers and public safety officials work together to develop treatment protocols for first responders and their families. • Inclusion of Fire and EMS officials in intelligence distribution: Selected individuals from fire and emergency medical service be granted Top Secret Clearance. • Regional acceptance and compliance with regional response protocol. COG should initiate measures to increase its coordinating/facilitating role to support the Incident Command System during regional catastrophic incidents.

7. Fire Chiefs Committee • Regionalization of Chaplain and Faith Based Support Emergency Responders: Funding be set aside for transportation,training and coordination of chaplain support • That COG ensure that public safety agencies participate in discussion on evacuation decisions • Regional Readiness Matrix: That COG adopt a uniform matrix of readiness levels for the region • A regional warehouse or stockpile be established for use in the region • That Congress recognize COG as a grant recipient on behalf of local governments and that COG develop a mechanism for direct disbursement of funds to local jurisdictions in NCR.

8. Health Officers Committee • Regional Rapid Response Health Leadership Team: COG should facilitate the development of RRR Health Team that includes the highest level of leadership in MD, VA, and DC, CDC, COG Health Officers Committee, the 3 state Hospital Associations and COG D&EPC Committee. • Develop a health operational response plan in collaboration with the Bio-Terrorism Task Force for approval by January, 2002. • Incorporate a strategy of health communications into the regional emergency response communication system. Messages to the public must be consistent throughout the region and accessible to a variety of diverse populations (e.g., multiple languages, hearing and sight-impaired). • Regional Disease Surveillance System: COG should identify funding, conduct a feasibility study, and identify expertise to create a regional surveillance system for implementation in 2002.

9. Health Officers Committee • Work with CDC and its contractor to develop a regional approach to locating, storing,managing and disbursing supplies from the the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile. • Expand the DCHA HMARS system to all hospitals and health departments in the region. • Through outreach to the private hospital associations and medical societies develop communications mechanism with private physicians in the region.

10. Water Supply Committee • Review and update Regional Water Supply Emergency Plan. • Enhance the number of water supply connections between water supply and distribution facilities. • Initiate an exercise of the Water Supply Emergency Plan. • Assess the potential impact and security needs to address cyber terrorism at area water utilities. • Conduct vulnerability assessment at area water utilities and insure that results and approaches are responsibly shared and communicated.

11. Energy Committee • Nuclear Industry • Need to improve coordination with local government public safety. • Need security and background checks completed in more timely manner. • Need to have a more effective process or sharing information on nuclear plant safety with the populations that resides within outer boundaries of the designated concentric areas of safety concern.

12. Energy Committee • Electric Power and Natural Gas • Develop comprehensive tested emergency plans that have flexibility to enable emergency response personnel to respond under the most dire and unusual conditions. • Ensure that highly trained personnel are available in emergencies • Provide redundant communications capabilities • Scrutinize existing security and emergency plan and identify needed improvements • Make federal disaster recovery assistance available to all critical infrastructure providers for man-made as well as natural disaster and for temporary as well as permanent repairs. • Encourage the construction of needed new electric generating capacity,promote increased networking and capacity of transmission

13. Solid Waste • Compile list of most likely scenarios requiring a solid waste response and circulate to local governments and other appropriate groups. • Integrate solid waste and debris management into incident response system. • Evaluate how debris management health and safety issues were handled in the NY and Pentagon events and review how other potential scenarios involving handling of event debris should be handled. • COG should compile list of bypass contracts and report information to Solid Waste workgroup to insure sufficient bypass capacity exists should there be an event.

14. Solid Waste • Upgrade local disaster management plans to incorporate potential terrorist events. • Review District of Columbia debris management plan and evaluate how it can serve as a core planning document for the region. • Plan and execute a regional exercise involving debris management.

15. Communication • Support the expedited establishment of a Regional Incident Communication Center (RICC) that would • Facilitate regional communication and coordination of federal, state, and local government decision-makers in the event of a regional emergency • Insure that accurate and timely information is prepared in a coordinated manner throughout an emergency event for transmission to the region’s elected leaders, government managers, private and non-profit enterprises, the media and public, under the philosophy “common messages, many voices.” • Inventory existing communication center facilities in the region and identify a primary and one or more alternate back-up facilities where a RICC could be co-located and staffed on a “24/7” basis that has the necessary capabilities to serve the region in the event of emergencies requiring regional communication and coordination. • Identify the resources and funding source(s) necessary for supporting the primary and back-up RICCs on an ongoing basis.

16. Communication • Expedite implementation of the public safety recommendations for enhanced communications among responders at the incident scene as well as interoperability communications capability. • Expedite implementation of the transportation recommendations for enhanced personal communications equipment. • Expedite implementation of the necessary equipment to enable full regional use of the Emergency Alert System. • Expedite implementation of expanded WAWAS sites at all levels of government.