Mutual Aid Systems in Washington State

1. Mutual Aid Systems in Washington State Terry Egan, Ed. D.

2. National Response Framework • Recognizes the importance of mutual aid • Encourages the development of mutual aid agreements : • At State Level; • At intrastate level; • International; and, • Even among NGO’s and private entities.

3. Washington’s Experience with Mutual Aid (EMAC) • 2001: EMAC Passed by the Legislature • First deployment of EMD staff under EMAC to NYC post 9/11. • 2003: Washington Becomes the National Coordination Group (NCG) for EMAC • Dispatches resources to the East Coast in response to Hurricane Isabel. • Dispatches resources to Florida for Hurricanes Charlie, Francis, and Ivan. • EMD establishes a record as the NCG to work the most hurricanes in a year.

4. Washington’s Experience with Mutual Aid (EMAC) • 2007 • EMD’s first and only EMAC resource request is for a DC-10 retardant bomber from California Department of Forestry to fight an eastern Washington wildfire. • EMD dispatches 12 Type I and Type III engine strike teams to fight a fire storm in Southern California.

5. Washington’s Experience with Mutual Aid (PNEMA) • The brain child of an EMD Director (Hugh Fowler) • Passed by Congress as PL105-381 in 1998 • Governance structure operates under WREMAC. • Annex B introduced in 2003 to provide an operating system for PNEMA • Annex B = the language of EMAC slightly changed for an international application

6. Washington’s Experience with Mutual Aid (PNEMA) • Annex B signed by Premiers and Governors in 2006-2007. • “EMAC Lite” – Uses EMAC procedures. • Members include AK, BC, ID, OR, WA, YK. • First used in Evergreen Quake 2012

7. Intrastate Mutual Aid • 2004 • NEMA adopted model intrastate mutual aid legislation. • 2006-2010 • WSEMA leadership alternately supported then opposed model legislation. • 2010 • Washington Association of Building Officials (WABO) used NEMA model to craft mutual aid legislation applying only to the building industry. • WABO introduced legislation to the 2011 session.

8. Intrastate Mutual Aid • 2010 • A group of Puget Sound EM Directors decided that intrastate mutual aid was an idea whose time had come • 2011 • The Directors had no lobbyist • The Directors had no public safety association support • Representative Deb Eddy introduced the model legislation into the House • The legislation passed both houses unanimously • The WABO bill also passed both houses unanimously, but the Governor vetoed only the committee language in the bill

9. Implementing Intrastate Mutual Aid • Then we… • Wrote the WAMAC (Washington Mutual Aid Compact) Operations Manual • Wrote the Governance Protocols • Appointed the Governance Committee • EMD Director • Four Members from the State’s Emergency Management Council • Now we need to train and exercise… • Create Mutual Aid Systems Course? • Train local jurisdictions? • Develop exercises with WAMAC scenarios?

10. NGO’s And Private Entities • While EMD generally does not have any agreements with non-governmental organizations, it does work cooperatively with them. • EMD has an MOU with Puget Sound Energy that came about as a result of the 2006 Wind Storm Event. • The Association of Washington Business has 3 representatives assigned to the State EOC.

11. Hold Questions for Discussion!