Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise · PDF file · 2015-04-17Berkeley/Albany Citywide ... simulated CERT damage assessments with sample scenarios were a key component

2015

This document has been authored by

the Berkeley CERT Special Events and

Exercises Unit and by Khin Chin,

Berkeley Fire Department/OES

1/27/2015

Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise



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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report

Acknowledgements

Special thanks and acknowledgements go to the following key contributors to the development and delivery of the 2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise:

The 2014 Berkeley CERT Special Events and Exercises Unit

Bill Springer, Shawn Connors, Gradiva Couzin, Pamela Fadem, Elaina Lovejoy, Mary McBride, Chadidjah McFall, George Nace, Roger Sharpe, David Snippen, Susan Snyder, Kim Tonkyro, and Jenny Wenk

Governmental Participants

Berkeley Fire Department Berkeley Unified School District South Berkeley Senior Center City of Albany Albany Fire Department

And to all participating individuals, Neighborhood Preparedness Groups, businesses and community organizations.

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Introduction This After Action Report (AAR) is intended to assist both the City of Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Services and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) as they plan the next Berkeley Citywide Emergency Exercise. The AAR concentrates on the successes and the areas for further improvement in the Exercise. The recommendations for future Exercises are based on feedback from both participating individuals and organized Neighborhood Preparedness Groups.

Exercise Overview The 2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise was conducted on October 18th. It ran from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. throughout the City. A Debriefing Meeting was held at the South Berkeley Senior Center from noon to 1:00 p.m.

The objectives of the Exercise focused on communications, fire safety, and damage assessment. To follow up on the 2014 Berkeley Emergency Preparedness Fair held in April, there was a special emphasis placed on the safety of children and pets. To make it easier for Berkeley residents to take part in the Exercise, volunteers authored a series of new Activity Guides to replace the handbooks used in previous Citywide Exercises. The specific activities in the Guides were chosen so that any individual, or group of individuals, could participate in the Exercise at their current level of preparedness and knowledge. Prior training in Berkeley’s CERT program was not necessary to participate in the Exercise. In fact, the majority of the participants in the 2014 Citywide Exercise had not taken any formal CERT classes.

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report All materials were posted on the City’s website for reference or downloading. In addition to the Activity Guides, volunteers also developed a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) webpage about the Exercise. This FAQ explained both why the City was conducting the Exercise and the importance of taking part, and then gave basic information about how to take part.

This was the third year of the annual Exercise in Berkeley, and the first year the Exercise was conducted jointly with the City of Albany. CERT volunteers led the planning for the Exercise as well the planning and execution of the Debriefing. The Office of Emergency Services provided coordination with the City. CERT volunteers worked to provide both education in disaster preparedness and training in basic emergency skills. By helping neighborhoods and community groups gain basic emergency skills we can lessen the effect of a disaster and more easily sustain ourselves until outside assistance can arrive. CERT Volunteers are a key link in the City’s chain of resiliency.

Strengths Key strengths of the Exercise include:

• Community participation in the Exercise continues to be strong. The registrations included 65 Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Groups with close to a thousand participating individuals, including children.

• Groups reported they experimented with new tactics, tested their strengths,

uncovered unexpected weaknesses, and recruited new members. Many also updated their cache of supplies.

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• 2014 was the first year that Berkeley and Albany cooperated in staging an Exercise. This new partnership expands the population taking part in a natural way, since many neighborhoods span the borders of the two cities.

• The new Activity Guides made it possible for individuals to practice one or

more skills at home while Neighborhood Groups practiced existing skills and learned new ones. These Guides can be expanded to form a “Resiliency Library” that can be downloaded from the City’s website. Having the Activity Guides about Children and Pets easily available on the CERT website year-round will make it easier for parents, grandparents, pet owners, and caregivers to make sure the children and animals in their care stay safe during and after a major earthquake.

• Support from many parts of the community - schools, businesses, City

departments and community organizations - helped to extend outreach and bring in new participants.

• Volunteers learned how ICS provides an organizational structure for more

than incident management. By using the ICS to plan, organize, and run the Debriefing meeting the Special Events and Exercises Unit members practiced the ICS structure. This helped them hone and maintain skills needed for the large-scale incidents.

• The Exercise once again increased awareness of the Berkeley Emergency Notification System (BENS). In the 3 months before the Exercise 419 new BENS accounts were created. The Exercise may be the best outreach tool for BENS.

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report Areas for Improvement Recommendations for improvement include:

• The 1610 AM broadcast was not heard clearly by many participants in the Exercise. If The City does intend for this frequency to be available to all residents, it will need to take steps to better understand what locations are not served by the broadcasts, and to improve broadcast strength accordingly.

• We believe the total participation was lower than the 2013 Exercise. Outreach and marketing efforts should be increased and improved for future Exercises. The Special Events and Exercises Unit believes that there should be a unique look and feel to all materials for the Exercise that can be used year after year.

• The time of year the Exercise is held needs to be carefully considered. Some

participants felt holding it in the spring is more convenient than in the fall. Others suggested combining it with National Night Out. A consistent date would make it easier for people to plan to participate.

• If it is decided that registration is an important component of the Exercise

then the process needs to be easier and simpler.

• The reasons for the Exercise need to be more compelling. Residents need to understand the benefits they will get by participating. Most neighborhood groups reported fewer participants than they had hoped to attract.

• Vulnerable and underserved parts of the community were not well-

represented in the Exercise. Both targeted outreach efforts and possible changes to the Exercise’s design and focus need to be studied. It is vital to make the Exercise more approachable for everyone in our community.

Narrative The Berkeley CERT Citywide Exercise provided residents an opportunity to practice disaster response in their own homes, neighborhoods, businesses and workplaces. Everyone was encouraged to participate regardless of their level of CERT training or previous participation in City disaster preparedness activities. Exercise activities ranged from simply making a telephone call to an out-of-area emergency contact all the way up to the set-up of neighborhood Incident Command Posts. At the neighborhood group level, simulated CERT damage assessments with sample scenarios were a key component. Many other individual, family, and Neighborhood Group activities were described in the Activity Guides.

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report The City of Berkeley activated and promoted awareness of both emergency communications systems: Radio1610 AM and the Berkeley Emergency Notification System (BENS.)

In a concurrent exercise, the Berkeley Fire Department (BFD) dispatched companies to conduct damage assessment drills that simulated their planned post-earthquake procedures. BFD companies also visited participating neighborhoods to simulate CERT interaction with professional responders. This process made it clear the great value these neighborhood and community leaders bring to Berkeley’s disaster readiness effort.

Exercise Objectives The overall objective of the exercise was for participants to learn and practice skills they will need in the event of a disaster such as a major earthquake on the Hayward Fault. This year’s Exercise focused on the following skills:

1. Conduct fire prevention activities and practice fire suppression. 2. Perform a damage assessment of the neighborhood. 3. Practice emergency communications. 4. For families with children, increase family preparedness and involve children

in activities. 5. For households with pets, increase pet preparedness by acquiring the

supplies and emergency contacts they will need after a disaster.

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Fire Prevention and Suppression One objective of this year’s Exercise was to conduct fire prevention and suppression activities. The City of Berkeley faces an ongoing threat from urban and wildland fires. Prompt, safe, and effective suppression of small fires will be critically important after an earthquake, when responders may be overwhelmed.

Fire prevention actions before an earthquake can be equally critical in mitigating the potential impact of a disaster.

• People taking part in this year’s Exercise fulfilled this goal by checking their fire extinguishers, testing their smoke alarms, locating their home gas shut-off valves, and practicing fire suppression techniques with garden hoses.

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• Simulated fires (which can be made out of cardboard) provide a hands-on exercise to learn proper techniques for using a garden hose on a small fire before it grows too large to handle easily.

• Group tours of neighborhoods to see where gas and electric meters are located helped people prepare themselves to turn off valves after a large earthquake. Groups also updated their maps to show new utility connections and new automatic shut off valves for gas lines.

Damage Assessment In a disaster, accurate communication from community responders to professional responders about casualties, damage, and dangerous conditions will be essential. With this information the professionals can deploy resources where they will do the greatest good for the greatest number of residents and visitors.

Community members practiced assessing the damage in their neighborhoods using a variety of scenarios posted in locations that might have suffered moderate to severe damage. Example scenarios were included in the Damage Assessment Activity Guide. Some Groups created site specific damage scenarios to test assessment skills. The incident command system (ICS) was used by trained CERT members to organize damage assessment efforts in their Groups. Damage assessment teams reported the information in the scenarios to their Neighborhood Group’s Incident Command posts. This process helped members of the Groups learn how to fulfill the roles of Operations, Communications, and Logistics sections. Residents new to the CERT

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report concept learned to look at their neighbors’ homes in ways they’d never thought of before.

BFD conducted a damage assessment drill using departmental procedures following a large-scale earthquake. “Windshield Assessments” were performed in all seven fire districts as fire companies drove prescribed routes gathering information and simulating triage of multiple emergency incidents. CERT-trained neighborhood leaders provided fire officers with lists of their critical needs and damage assessment information from their Groups’ command posts.

Radio Communications Neighborhood Groups practiced their FRS radio skills both as part of the Damage Assessment process and separately as a specific radio drill. Many reported that this is a skill that they need to continue to work on since it’s easy to forget the basic protocols. This component of the Exercise also helped Group members learn how easy it is to pick up the radio transmissions of other Groups as much as a mile away.

Children and Pets There is sufficient anecdotal evidence of participation by families with children to know that children were involved in many Group activities during the Exercise. In one neighborhood six boys learned how to aim a hose at the base of a fire and then how to turn the nozzle from jet to mist as they approached the fire. In another group, children were assigned to locate “injured victims” (stuffed animals) and transport them to the Incident Command Post.

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Other Elements of the Exercise

Berkeley Emergency Notification System (BENS) One goal of the annual Exercise is to promote awareness of local emergency alerting systems. The Berkeley Emergency Notification System (BENS) is the City’s system for alerting residents to emergencies in their neighborhoods, any quadrant of Berkeley, and/or the entire City of Berkeley. BENS sends messages to residents’ cell phones, email addresses and landline numbers. It is only activated in real time during an actual emergency. In the three months leading up to the Exercise, 419 new user accounts were opened in BENS. In comparison, only 20 new accounts were established in the two months after the Exercise. Because of this difference, the City believes the Exercise is a vital outreach tool for BENS.

Radio 1610 AM Radio 1610 AM is the City’s broadcast radio station for advisory information. This radio frequency may be utilized in an emergency as a method of public information and warning. The Exercise Activity Guides suggested that residents tune to 1610 AM to test their ability to receive a programmed exercise awareness message in their homes and neighborhoods. As with previous communications exercises conducted by the City, the test produced mixed results. Once again many residents reported hearing the 1610 AM messages. However, many others were unable to receive the radio station clearly from their locations. Though the information obtained is incomplete and anecdotal, thus limiting the applicability of this data for specific technical

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report improvements in Radio 1610 AM, the Exercise again demonstrated that this public information outlet does not reach all locations in Berkeley with access to AM radio. This reinforces the need for residents to be aware of the many different ways they can get information after a disaster, including commercial radio and television stations and BENS.

Summary Activity Name 2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise Duration 4 hours Exercise Date October 18, 2014 Participating Agencies Berkeley Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Berkeley Fire Department City Manager’s Office Berkeley Unified School District Pacific Gas & Electric Number of Participants

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report Sixty-five Neighborhood Groups registered for this Exercise. Those Groups reported that close to 1,000 individuals participated during the Exercise. That number includes over 100 children. We do not know how many people participated who did not register in advance. Focus Response Recovery Prevention Other Type of Exercise Full Scale

Exercise Evaluation Exercise evaluation was conducted for participants through the Debriefing meeting after the Exercise, feedback forms, and an online feedback survey. Participants identified strengths, areas for improvement and potential improvement actions.

Demonstrated Strengths and Improvement Plan The 2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise was intended to involve as many people as possible to learn, practice and develop disaster preparedness and response skills. The Exercise provides an opportunity to practice basic response skills in the neighborhood setting including basic fire safety, damage assessment, and FRS radio communications. It gives Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Groups a “date certain” to gather their members, update their caches, practice their strengths and discover their weaknesses. Supporting both the long-established Groups, as well as the newer groups, should continue to be a key component of the City’s Resiliency Plan. This year’s Exercise also sought to give individuals and families who are not already members of Neighborhood Groups ways to participate and learn new skills. An important outcome of this year’s Exercise for the City was that the planning, communication, execution, and evaluation were turned over to the CERT Special Events and Exercises Unit volunteers. This made it clear that the City now has a cadre of citizens who are deeply committed to the CERT Program. Their diverse experiences and talents blended together to create a successful event. They also

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report give the City confidence that competent leaders can, and will, emerge all over Berkeley during an actual disaster. The new Activity Guides that replaced the handbooks make it easier for individuals, families, and Groups to find and do actions that fit their level of skill and understanding. These Guides were designed to help participants learn new skills that will make them safer in a true disaster. More Activity Guides on additional topics would provide Berkeley with a “Resiliency Library” that anyone could download to prepare themselves, their families, their businesses, and their community organizations for a major emergency. Sixty-five Neighborhood Groups registered for this Exercise. Those Groups reported that close to 1,000 individuals participated during the Exercise. That number includes the over 100 children who were a focus of this year’s Fair, the Exercise, and the ongoing communications efforts. In the three months leading up to the Exercise, 419 new user accounts were opened in BENS. Since only 20 new accounts were established in the two months after the Exercise the City believes the Exercise is a vital outreach tool for BENS.

Areas to improve: Registration The registration process is confusing. Using Eventbrite greatly simplified data gathering and helped identify possible new volunteers for the CERT Team. However, many people found the Eventbrite process to be intrusive since they were asked for personal information. It also confused some people when it told them they had a “ticket” for the Event. This led some people to question where they were supposed to go and when they were supposed to be at that location. There continue to be questions about “Why should I register?” as well as people saying they registered in 2013 and that should be enough. The concept of having people “register” to participate needs to be carefully examined. What is the benefit for the City? What is the benefit for the CERT Volunteer Unit? Do we have any guarantee that everyone who “registers” actually follows through on the day of the Exercise? Or if they can’t participate that day is their awareness raised enough to take independent action at a later date? Radio broadcasts on 1610 Radio broadcasts on AM 1610 were once again not understandable by many participants in the exercise. Although many participants reported hearing the broadcast, many others reported either unintelligible reception, competing interference from nearby frequencies, or simply complete lack of audible signal at

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report their neighborhood location. Some of these disparities may be caused by differences in the radio receivers. In some cases, home radios did not pick up the signals while automobile radios did. Recognizing the limits of 1610 AM, the City will need to explore alternate means for community members to receive information shared through this station. The City also needs to make sure residents understand the full range of sources they can use for vital information after a disaster. Marketing and outreach Efforts need to be increased and improved for future Exercises. A significant number of people said the 2013 Exercise was more visible than 2014’s was. Many residents still indicated only a low level of awareness in parts of the community. In particular, the UC student population continues to be difficult to engage. Although there is a CERT equivalent on campus, much of the Preparedness planning is conducted at the Academic Department level. Marketing questions raised include:

1. Should there be one consistent graphic image that is used every year so everyone in the City recognizes the Citywide Exercise is being announced?

2. Should the Exercise be held during the same week of the same month every year? If so, what month? What week?

3. What will “I get” by participating in the Exercise? What is the benefit for individuals and families to go out of their way to participate?

4. How can the Exercise help me find a Neighborhood Preparedness Group I can join?

5. How can the Exercise establish a connection between individuals and Neighborhood Groups ?

Underrepresented populations and neighborhoods Vulnerable and underserved parts of the community were not represented well enough in this Exercise. This includes people with disabilites as well as residents of apartment buildings and people living in the southern and western areas of Berkeley. In a major disaster, many people with disabilities will require a strong support system to assist with transport and other needs. For many people in this situation having their pets/support animals with them is crucially important, which could pose a challenge at shelters. The Special Events and Exercises Unit has heard from a number of people that many apartment buildings do not have adequate plans in place for what residents should do during and after a large earthquake. One area of possible emphasis for the 2015 Citywide Exercise could be the City’s apartment buildings, especially those with a

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2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise – October 18, 2014 After Action Report significant population of seniors and/or people with disabilities. Helping these residents organize their own Groups and learn what to do to help each other when the shaking stops would significantly increase the City’s resiliency.

For many historical and demographic reasons the southern and western sides of Berkeley have fewer organized Neighborhood Groups than the North Berkeley and Hills areas. Residents in underrepresented neighborhoods may have difficulty finding or forming a Neighborhood Group. The CERT program needs to strengthen outreach activities for underrepresented neighborhoods and populations, and may need to consider changing the design or focus of future Exercises to better serve this audience. Fire District Coordinators can become helpful resources for people who are having trouble finding a neighborhood with which to participate. Timing of the Exercise Further discussion is needed about the timing of future Exercises. In 2014 it was held in October to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. The hope was the news coverage around the anniversary would increase participation. However, many people feel that October is an inconvenient month with many competing activities for individuals and families. Should the Exercise be held at the same time every spring? That has been suggested by several people. Another question the City and the CERT Special Events and Exercises Unit need to address.

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Conclusion The 2014 Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise was a successful event. It again demonstrated the ability of neighborhood responders to access and relay emergency information, to implement basic emergency skills and to engage their fellow neighbors in disaster preparedness activities. Staging a disaster preparedness activity that is open to everyone in the community encourages outreach, promotes awareness, and initiates real-life actions taken towards emergency readiness. The City’s Office of Emergency Services and the CERT volunteers commend and appreciate the determined efforts of all participating individuals, and all neighborhood and community leaders in making this valuable contribution towards community readiness.

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Berkeley CERT Citywide Exercise April 27, 2013

Appendix A Table A.1 - Improvement Plan Matrix

Element Recommendation Improvement Action

Responsible Party/Agency

Radio 1610 broadcast strength.

Radio 1610 should successfully reach all locations in Berkeley.

Perform a citywide audit of Radio 1610 broadcast range to understand areas that are not reached successfully. Improve range as needed.

Berkeley Fire Department

Improve the registration process and the communication of exercise objectives and expectations for the Exercise

Evaluate whether registration is a valuable tool for the Exercise. Agree on the benefits individuals & families get by participating in the Exercise.

If registration is desired find easy to use technology that will gather the information needed. Develop short, clear statement of reasons to participate.

Special Events and Exercises Unit

Increase participation in future citywide exercises, especially among underrepresented populations

Increase community engagement year round and leading up to the Exercise with particular focus on community segments that showed limited levels of participation.

Create an “outreach team” for underserved groups. District Coordinators may serve as an access point for South and West Berkeley residents.

Special Events and Exercises Unit, District Coordinators

Make the Exercise an expected event in the city.

Find a time of year to hold the Exercise every year. Agree on a “look and feel” for all materials about the Exercise.

Develop graphics that can be used and reused with minimal alterations for each ensuing Exercise.

Special Events and Exercises Unit

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Berkeley CERT Citywide Exercise April 27, 2013

Appendix B Berkeley Citywide Emergency Exercise Debrief - Incident Command Chart

Debriefing Incident Command Shawn Connors

Public Information/Press

Safety Officer Sarah Jones

City Liaison Jennifer Lazo

Operations Gradiva Couzin

Presentation 11 - 12:00 MC/Facilitator: Elaina Lovejoy, Susan Snyder

Set Up 10 - 11:30 Lead: Gradiva Couzin Shawn Connors Mary McBride

Clean Up 12:00 - 2 pm Lead: Roger Sharpe Chadidjah McFall Bill Springer Pam Fadem

Logistics Pam Fadem

Food Preparation 10 - 11:30 Sarah Jones

Sign in 11:30 - 12:30 Lead: Pam Faden

Communications George Nace 10 am - 2 pm

Planning Mary Mcbride

Scribes 12:00 - 1pm Chadidjah McFall

Timekeeper 12:00-1 pm Bill Springer

Photography 12:00 - 1pm Shawn Connors

Documentation Mary McBride Jenny Wenk

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Berkeley/Albany Citywide Emergency Exercise · PDF file · 2015-04-17Berkeley/Albany Citywide ... simulated CERT damage assessments with sample scenarios were a key component