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Emergency Management| Training and Exercises |
Current Oregon FEB or Partner Training Events
Archives
"Rose Guardian '10: When the Bloom Goes Boom!"
The Oregon Federal Executive Board (Oregon FEB) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region X, collaborated on a functional interagency continuity exercise for Oregon and SW Washington. Entitled "Rose Guardian 2010," this exercise tested local agency recovery plans in the aftermath of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) at multiple locations in the Portland Metro Area, including one in front of the participating agency’s office.
The exercise was scheduled to occur in April, but the date was confidential until announced the afternoon before the beginning of the exercise. Participating agencies reported with their emergency relocation group to their continuity site the following morning. This provided a more realistic challenge to agency plans and capabilities. The actual date of the exercise was April 14th. Nearly 20 Oregon and SW Washington federal and local government agencies participated.
For a copy of the After Action Report or further info about the exercise, contact Jeff Sargent at jsargent@oregonfeb.us or 503.326.3030.
"Without Warning '09" Tabletop Exercise simulates pandemic flu outbreak
Over 45 local federal agency leaders came together at the Red Lion Convention Center in Portland on September 10th to contemplate how to manage a sudden catastrophic incident which impacts a majority of their workforce. The Oregon Federal Executive Board and FEMA Region X hosted “Without Warning ‘09”, a tabletop exercise that challenged participants to respond to a rapid and virulent pandemic flu outbreak, based on a mutation of H1N1.
Lead facilitator Anthony Ho of DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed attendees through a series of five major events which unfolded over a period of 75 days. The presentation included video clips of mock newscasts and fictitious blogs, which contributed to misinformation.
Participants explored critical issues such as essential functions, succession planning, triggers for continuity plans, managing personnel and human resources issues beyond the workplace, and decision-making with unreliable information. The audience included emergency managers, agency directors, human resources managers, public affairs officers, and more. A representative from the Oregon National Guard's Joint Information Center also attended.
Initial feedback was quite positive, and included some excellent suggestions to improve future exercises. The Oregon FEB and other Federal Executive Boards are required to conduct annual tabletop exercises, per a national agreement with FEMA.
For a copy of the After Action Report or further info about the exercise, contact Jeff Sargent at jsargent@oregonfeb.us or 503.326.3030.
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Early on morning of April 27th the OR-Quake Planning Team was in the OFEB office, which was also the exercise control center, loaded up on caffeine and poised to begin. During the day they delivered injects by phone and email about every 10-20 minutes. Agency senior management and emergency personnel from 13 participating agencies had to decide how to respond. By 3:00 pm "EndEx" was announced and agencies held their own internal "hotwash" to quickly discuss what went well and what they learned.
At the exercise hotwash the next day, many participants echoed some consistent challenges: 1) communications tools didn't always work as planned, 2) some members of agency's staff, including senior leaders, weren't up to speed on the agency's continuity of operations plans, and 3) identifying which records are truly vital and having reliable access to them needs improvement. These and other lessons learned were captured in an After Action Report. From there, it's on to implementing process improvements and testing them again. The cycle continues so that when a disaster really occurs, our federal community is as ready as we can be.
For a copy of the After Action Report or further info about the exercise, contact Jeff Sargent at jsargent@oregonfeb.us or 503.326.3030.
9-10-08 "Cascadia Federal '08" earthquake tabletop exercise shook things up
You are on your way to work, and suddenly the ground beneath the bus begins to tremble. It continues for almost four minutes. The bus is stopped and all passengers are evacuated. Someone says they just heard on the radio that there's been a massive earthquake off the Oregon coast. What is your agency's plan for how you and other employees are to inform the agency of your status in the event of such an emergency? This was just one of the many questions that 40 local federal agency leaders, emergency managers, human resources officers, facilities managers and other staff considered on September10th at the Oregon FEB's "Cascadia Federal" tabletop exercise, held at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest headquarters in Vancouver.
The exercise took participants through a series of modules with questions focused on the management of short and long term human capital issues in the event of a catastrophic quake. The scenario was based on the same one being used next April for the State of Oregon's "Cascadia Peril" statewide full-scale exercise. It proposes that a 9.0 earthquake strikes the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which runs along the Pacific coast from northern California to British Columbia. History indicates that about every 300-500 years a major earthquake occurs along this zone, resulting in significant earth movement and tsunamis.
Primary areas for improvement identified in the hotwash and after action report included the need for:
- Advance Memorandums of Agreement between Federal agencies or other stakeholders so that available resources can be quickly shared, and a better awareness of what Federal resources are available in the region.
- Improved communications plans and redundancies to enable agencies to better account for and share their status with employees following such a catastrophic disaster.
- Clarity with respect to policies and authorities to support federal employees and their families during the recovery phase, including addressing the emotional stress.
As the exercise documentation and After Action Report are designated For Official Use Only, they are not posted on this site. For a copy of the exercise materials or additional information, contact Jeff Sargent at jsargent@oregonfeb.us or 503-326-3030.
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a Wealth of Information
Over 75 local federal employees joined at the Doubletree Hotel Lloyd Center in Portland on June 3, 2008 to hear local federal experts share their insight on an issue none of us hope to face: workplace violence.
The Oregon Federal Executive Board organized and hosted this Executive Forum event. Bill McNamee, Director of the local Citizenship and Immigration Services office and Chair of the Oregon FEB, opened the session. Dr. David Drummond of the Portland VA Medical Center followed with his observations on the myths and actual trends in workplace violence. Steve Borgen, U.S. Attorney’s Office, then shared advice on legal issues to consider with respect to the hiring and retention of potential problem employees. Dr. Drummond returned to address the challenges of risk assessment, followed by Steve Reinbrecht of the Dept. of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Toni Albano, U.S. Postal Service, offering their perspective on plans, programs and policies.
The agenda continued with Layne Frambes, Federal Protective Service, sharing advice on incident management and Toni Albano highlighting key issues with respect to 'the aftermath" of an incident. A 20 minute question and answer session with the panel concluded the morning. Attendees left with a CD of all presentations and additional documents and resources for further study (see below).
